We turn to 1 Corinthians 1. I'm
glad to see Tom Harding, pastor of the Zebulon Baptist Church,
here. He didn't tell me he was coming.
And I would have liked to have the
night off, but glad to have you with us, Tom.
1 Corinthians 1, as I announced
last week, I'm bringing three messages out of this ninth verse.
Last week we considered God is faithful, and tonight we're going
to consider calling. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9. God is faithful, by whom you
were called unto the fellowship of his Son. Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
called. By your grace. By your spirit. By your gospel, Lord, call us
don't pass us by, call us For the Lord's sake, Lord, we so
much desire to be called by Thee. Call us for Christ's sake. In
His name we pray, Amen. God is always faithful to do
whatever He purposes to do. We just read God is faithful
and He says he has called you under the fellowship of his son. Now talking about a reason for
significance. Meaning in life. People are always
struggling with meaning and purpose. Well, here's meaning and purpose
for you. He's called you if you're a believer, he's called you under
the fellowship of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, who's
Paul speaking to when he says God is faithful by whom you were
called under the fellowship of his son? Is he talking to me?
Who's he speaking to? Who's he referring to? Well,
look in verse two. He tells us who he's speaking to. He's speaking
under the church of God, which is at Corinth to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both
theirs and ours. He says to these people. And
he's saying to every believer, God has called you, you personally
into the fellowship of his son. That's who he's speaking to.
He's speaking to believers. He's not speaking to everybody.
He's speaking to those that God has called. Now, I want to attempt
to preach upon this subject tonight. Calling. God's call. Has God called you? Has God called me? I hope we'll
have some understanding of that by the time we leave tonight. You know, we are commanded in
the scripture, in 2 Peter 1, verse 10, to make our calling
and our election sure. I want to do that tonight, don't
you? I want to make my calling and my election sure. Now, in
order to do that, we're going to have to have some understanding
of what this calling of the scripture actually is. What does it mean
when God calls somebody? What is this word that we find
over and over again in the scripture called? I'm going to read some
scriptures to you. In Romans, chapter one, verse
six, believers are called the called of Jesus Christ. That's a definition of a believer.
He's someone whom Jesus Christ has called. We read in Revelation
17, verse 14, they that are with him, those that are with the
Lord Jesus Christ, are called, chosen, and faithful. We read
in Romans 8, verse 30, whom he did predestinate, then he also
called. And we read in Ephesians chapter
4 verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, that you walk worthy of the vocation
or the calling wherewith ye are called. We read in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 verse 26, you see your calling, brethren, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many are
called. You know, the word church means
A called out assembly. Have I been called? Now, what
is this calling we read of in the Scripture? I've just quoted
a lot of verses of Scripture regarding calling. What is this
calling that we read of in the Scripture? Well, it's when Christ
calls you personally. That's the call we're talking
about. When Christ calls you Personally, and when he calls,
you respond. If you don't respond, he never
called you because everybody he calls, they respond. We have so many examples of this
in the scripture. You remember when Zacchaeus is
up in the tree? And he says, Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus was shocked
when he said that. He didn't know the Lord knew
who he was. Zacchaeus, make haste. Come down, for today I must abide
at thy house. You know what Zacchaeus did?
He made haste, and he came down, and he received him joyfully. Matthew the publican was sitting
at the receipt of customs, and the Lord says, Matthew, follow
me. And he arose, he forsook all,
And he followed the Lord Jesus Christ, you see, when Christ
calls you, you'll follow. I believe the most powerful illustration
of the call of Christ is that of Lazarus. Lazarus has been
in the grave four days. He stinks. The Lord says, Lazarus. Come forth. He that was dead. Came forth. Now that is the call
of irresistible, almighty, invincible grace. Could Lazarus have said
no? Could he have rejected that call?
Lazarus, come forth! No, no, that couldn't have happened,
could it? When Christ said, Lazarus, come forth, he that was dead
came forth. You see, when Christ calls a
man, he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's drawn to Christ
by an invincible and irresistible power. If Christ calls you, you
will find Christ irresistible, and you won't be able to stay
away from Him. I assure you, you won't. Not if He calls you. Psalm 110.3
says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. If Christ calls you personally,
you will come. You will come as a result of
the Father's drawing power. We read in John chapter 6, verse
44, no man can come to me except the Father, which has sent me,
draw him. And when he draws you, you will
come. Now, I want to give you some
things the scripture teaches concerning this call of God. Went to special call. Paul said
later on in this chapter, we preach Christ crucified. And
to the Jews, the religious fellows, this is a stumbling block, this
is a scandal. To say that you can be saved
by what somebody else did, to say that you can be saved by
grace, why that's scandalous. That'll lead people to see it.
To the Jews, the religious folks, this is a stumbling block. To
the Greeks, the philosophers, the educators, the academics,
the people who think they know something. Why, that's foolishness. You mean to tell me that you
really believe God became a man? You mean to tell me that you
really believe you're saved by somebody else's righteousness?
I don't believe that. It's foolishness. Unto the Jews,
Christ crucified is a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks, he's
foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, Christ, The wisdom of God, oh, the call of
God, it's special. You see, the call of God is a
sovereign call. By that, I mean God calls whoever
he's pleased to call. He does not call everybody. Now,
when he said Lazarus, come forth, who came forth? Lazarus did.
If he would have told everybody in the graveyard to come forth,
they would have all come out, wouldn't they? This is Christ
speaking. It is a sovereign call. He calls whoever he is pleased
to call. He does not call everybody. Let me read you this scripture.
Mark chapter three, verse 13, says he's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He calleth unto him whom he would. Not everybody, but whom he would. Doesn't this make you say, Lord,
I want you to call me instead of saying that's not fair for
not call everybody. I don't. Lord, call me. Don't pass me
by. Call me by your grace. Acts chapter
two, verse 38, Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, and
he says, for the promises to you and to your children and
to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. You see, he puts a limitation
on this thing. Who is the promise to? Even as many as the Lord
our God shall call. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15 says,
They which are called, not everybody's called. They which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. See, we
see from these scriptures that this call is a sovereign call. God calls who he is pleased to
call, and he does not call who he's pleased to not call. This
is a sovereign call. You see, this call is according
to God's sovereign purpose. We read in Romans 8, 28, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are be called according to his purpose. Romans 8, 30, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. The only people he calls are
those whom he predestinated. to be just like the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, why teach this? Why make
an issue of this? Why do you make an issue of the
fact that he calls only who he's pleased to call and he might
pass by somebody else? Why make an issue of this? I
can answer that question because the Bible does. God's Word makes
an issue of this, and therefore we make an issue of this. He
calls who he is pleased to call. Now, not only is this call a
sovereign call, It is a gracious call. It's the call of grace. Paul put it this way in Galatians
1.15. He said, When it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace. that I might preach him among
the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. It
is a gracious call. Here's another scripture. Second
Timothy one nine. He saved us. And he called us
with an 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. Now, because this call
is a gracious call, that is why it is both irresistible and invincible. It's the call of grace. The success
of this call is not contingent upon your ability to respond.
It's not contingent upon some decision you make. No, this call
is irresistible. This call is invincible. The
success of the gospel is not dependent upon me being able
to preach well. It's not dependent upon me being able to talk somebody
into something. The success of the gospel is
because of God's irresistible and invincible call. And therefore,
I can preach with such confidence. I know this isn't up to me to
save anybody. This is God's work. And he's
going to call his people irresistibly and invincibly. It truly is a
call of grace. You see, God's grace actually
saves. God's grace doesn't make salvation
available. God's grace doesn't make salvation possible. God's
grace saves. By grace ye are saved through
faith in that of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. God's grace actually saves. Do you mean to tell me that a
man cannot resist this call? Is that what you're saying? Yes. If God calls, you'll respond. You'll come. You'll be drawn
irresistibly and invincibly to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
can resist, He never called you. Because it's impossible to resist
this call, God is faithful to His purpose, to His plan, who
hath called you unto the fellowship of His dear Son. Now, let's consider
what the Bible tells us that we're called unto. God has called
you under the fellowship of his dear son. I've got five or six
things I'd like to mention that the scripture teaches that we're
actually called to. Now, we see this call. It's an irresistible
call. It's an invincible call. It works. It's an effectual call. That's
a good way. That's what we ought to call it, the effectual call. It accomplishes God's purpose. Now, what are we called to? When
God calls us, what are we called unto? Well, we read in 1 Peter
2, verse 9, this statement. He called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. And when God calls a man, He
calls them out of darkness. The natural man is in the dark.
The darkness of natural religion, of superstition, of error, the
natural man has no understanding. of how God saves sinners by His
grace. It's just not there. He does not understand. But when
God calls a man, He calls him and He brings him to the light.
He gives him some light. Now, what's light for? We see
God. Turn the lights off? I can't
see. You turn the lights on? I see. Now, the stuff that's
there in the dark, it's there whether I see it or not. But
when you turn the lights off, I see it. I see. When you turn
the lights on, I see who God is. I don't have a clue as to
who He actually is until God gives me light as to who He is.
And when He teaches me from His Word who He is, I see. When I
see who He is, I see who I am. The light's on regarding myself. I find out that I really am a
sinner. I find out what that means. I
mean, I hear it. It doesn't mean much to me. But when God gives
me light, all of a sudden it means something. I find out how
God saves. I'm given light concerning the
salvation of the same Christ Jesus. He's called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light. Remember, Christ Jesus is the
light of the world. We read in 1 Corinthians 7, verse
15, that He's called us unto peace. Now, I'm called to light
and I'm called to peace. Not fighting, not turmoil, but
peace. If God has called me, He's called
me to peace. This peace is seen in several
ways. The first thing that I think
of is he's called me to peace with himself. Romans chapter 5 verse 1 says,
therefore being justified. Now, don't skip that. Being justified. When Jesus Christ,
the Lord, died on the cross and was buried, and was raised again. You know what he did? He justified
everybody he died for. Justified. If I'm justified,
you know what that means? That means I'm not guilty. Before
God, right now, while I speak to you, I am not guilty. You know, even when I say that,
I got all kinds of things I feel guilty about. But before God, I am not
guilty. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is at peace with me. Do you know God doesn't have
anything to be mad at me about? No, He doesn't. You know why?
Because I'm justified. I'm not guilty. And not only
does He have nothing to be mad at me about, but because of that,
I can draw near into his presence and believe he accepts me and
receives me for Christ's sake. I'm at peace with him. He's at
peace with me. I'm at peace with him. We're
called to peace. Not to turmoil, not to doubt,
not to fear. We're called to peace. Peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace of conscience.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, with us from all seeing. Now, I've got peace of conscience,
and it's not because of anything I've done. As a matter of fact,
I'm being as honest as I know how to be right now. Everything
I've ever done, even when I said I was doing it for the glory
of God, I feel guilty about it. There was sin in it. Not just
a little bit of sin either, a lot of sin. My flesh is in it, it's
sin. And I don't feel peace of conscience
about anything I've done. Somebody says, I don't feel guilty
about that. I do. There isn't anything I don't feel guilty
about. I wish it wasn't like that. But that's the way it is.
But you know, that being said, I've got peace of conscience
because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection
of Christ satisfies me. And I've got peace of conscience
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace. I have peace
with my brethren. You know, we're not in competition,
are we? We're brothers. Not fighting,
not trying to get the upper hand on somebody. We're all down here. Christ is the Lord. We're all
His brethren. And we're not competing. We're
at peace. True peace. No competition. I have peace in my circumstances. And we know. I love the power of that statement.
We know. It's not just a hope so. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. Therefore, I have peace in my
circumstances, whatever they might be. I have peace. We're
called to peace. I have peace with all men, even
if they get mad at me. It's all right, I'm still a peacemaker
because I preach the gospel of peace. You've been called. This call, it's a call to light
and it's a call to peace. And here's another thing we're
called to. Galatians chapter 5, verse 13 says, you've been
called to liberty. You have personally, if you're
a believer, you've been called to light, you've been called
to peace. And remember, when God calls
you, it works. It's an effectual call. You really do have this
peace I'm speaking of. Don't you feel that peace is
a feeling? Don't you feel peace when you
really believe the cross is your righteousness before God? Makes
you feel peace, doesn't it? You've been called to peace.
Well, you've also been called to liberty, to freedom. Galatians chapter 5 verse 13
says, He hath called you unto liberty. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty, in the freedom where with Christ it made us
free. And don't you be entangled in that yoke of bondage, salvation
by works. We've been called to freedom.
Now what is freedom? There's two things involved in
freedom. It's so simple. If you're truly free, that means
you don't owe anything. When I owe something, it presses
on me. You can't feel free when you're
in debt. You're truly free when you don't owe anything. And you're
truly free when you get to do what you want to do. I mean,
you're doing just what you want to do. Isn't that what you do
on vacation? When you're on vacation, you do what you want to do. So
in this thing of being free, I don't owe anything, and I'm
doing what I want to do. Now, in Christ, I do not owe anything. All my debts have been paid. I don't owe a thing. Christ put
away my sin on Calvary Street when he said, It is finished.
There's my seal. When he was raised from the dead,
there's my remittance. I don't owe a thing. When Christ
walked out of that tomb and when he went into that tomb, he went
into that tomb with the sins of his people. When he walked
out, what's in that tomb? It's an empty tomb. Sin is put
away. I do not owe anything. And that's so free. When I think
about that, my body gets relaxed. It just makes me feel good. I'm
thankful for that. I don't owe anything. But not
only do I not owe anything, I'm doing what I want to do.
Do you know what I want to do? I want to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, when God saved me, he changed my want to. There
was a time when I didn't want to do that, but I do now. I really
do. He's changed my what to. I'm
doing what I want to do. We've been called unto freedom. And then we read in First Thessalonians,
chapter four, verse seven. God has not called us to uncleanness. But unto holiness. As a matter
of fact, turn to First Thessalonians, chapter four. I want to begin reading in verse
3. For this is, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, verse 3, for this is the will of God, even your
sanctification, your holiness, that you should abstain from
fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess
his vessel and sanctification and honor. not in the lust of
concupiscence or desire, even as the Gentiles wish no not God,
that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner, because
that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have forewarned
and testified, for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but
unto holiness. 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16 says, As
he that hath called you as holy, so be ye holy. in all manner of conversation,
for it's written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Obedience to the
Lord Jesus Christ is not optional. You've been called to holiness. And then in our text, and I'm
not going to say much about this because I'm going to talk more
about it next week, Lord But in our text, it says we're called
unto the fellowship of His Son. Now that is the most awesome
thing I believe I've ever thought about. We are called by God unto
the fellowship of his dear son. Now, I want you to think about
this for a few moments. Fellowship with Christ. When we think of
fellowship, a lot of times we think of just sitting around
talking and so on, and that is certainly part of fellowship,
but that's not really what this means when we're talking about fellowship
with Christ. The word actually means a sharing in common. It has two meanings, both of
which are important. It means a sharing in common,
and it means a communion. Where you talk, I talk to him
and he talks to me. I think of that passage of Scripture
in Revelation 3, where he said to the church at Laodicea, Behold,
I stand at the door and knock, talking to believers. If any
man will open up, I'll come unto him and I'll suck with him and
he'll suck with me. There's a communion that takes place. So, every believer,
and here's my significance. You want to find some meaning
and purpose in your life? Here it is. You've been called
by God on the fellowship with his dear son. At first, it means
a sharing in common. Well, what do we have in common
with Christ? That's the same father. He said, you go. He said, I go
unto my father and your father. To my God and your God. He taught us. He said, when you
pray, say to your father. We have the same father, there's
something really common, isn't it? Same father. We share, think
of this, in the same nature. I mean this in two ways. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 17. Wherefore, in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. We have the
same father and he calls us his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of his people. He was made like
unto his brethren. Look up in verse 16. It says
for verily he took not on him the nature of angels. He didn't
he didn't become an angel. He became a man. He took upon
him the nature of Abraham, Jesus Christ. There's a man right now
in glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, with a heart pumping and blood
pumping through his veins. That's God. And he took our flesh. We share with him in flesh. We are partakers. But turn to
second Peter, chapter one. Verse four. Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature. And that's what it says. Partakers, sharers of the divine
nature. That's what happens when someone
is born from above. When they're born again, they're
given his nature. Now, can I explain that? Not
even possibly. I can't explain it, but I sure
enough believe it. Partakers of the devil. We share
in that. Same father, Same nature, same
righteousness. Matter of fact, the same name,
same name. His name is the Lord our righteousness. My name is
the Lord our righteousness. We have the same name. There's
a there's a sharing in common, isn't it? You know, Christ truly
is my elder brother. He's my savior. He's my husband.
He's my elder brother, too. He's my Lord. He's my God. He's
my master. He's my all in all. We're partakers
of the divine nature. And not only do we share in things
with him and that That's incredible to think about. And I'm looking
forward to trying to preach on that next week. Fellowship with
Christ. But we also have communion with
Him. Do you know the Lord speaks to me from His Word? Now, I've never
heard an audible voice. But He speaks to me from His
Word. He's speaking to somebody right now. Don't have any doubt
about it. He speaks through His Word. And I speak to Him. He hears
me. I speak to Him and He hears me.
There's communion. What an awesome privilege to
be called unto fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't
know what to say about it. That blows me away. I've been
called to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. What an awesome
privilege. Then we read in Revelation chapter
19 verse 9, blessed are they which are called to the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Oh, how blessed is that person
who is called by the invincible, irresistible, effectual grace
of God to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, here's what I want to close
with us thinking about. Have I been called? I believe God's call is irresistible
and effectual and sovereign. I believe all those things. But
have I personally been called? How can I know? What do I hear
when I do hear him call? What are the words that I hear
or what is it that I hear? when I'm called. We'll turn to
2 Thessalonians. Verse 14. Whereunto he called you. What are those next three words? by our Gospel. What do I hear when I hear the
call? I've never heard him say, Todd,
I was listening to a preacher this morning and God told me
to say it. Oh, it bothered me as much as
I knew he was lying. God never told me the thing. What do you
hear when you're called? You hear the Gospel. You hear these The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? Who is the
gospel? This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. You hear the message
of the gospel. Now, here's the question I want to ask you. Do
you personally believe this gospel? Do you? Do you believe, when
God looks in your heart, do you believe that Jesus Christ the
Lord is salvation? Do you really believe that? Beloved, if you do, do you know
why? Because He called you. He called you! Paul says, by
our gospel. You know, I got saved in the
gospel Paul did. Believe the same thing. He called you by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here is the one infallible
evidence of God calling somebody. The people God calls, you know
what they do? They call. They call, call. They call upon the name of the
Lord. They say, Lord, have mercy on
me. Lord, save me. Lord, don't pass me by. While
on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. You call that? If you do, it's
because He called you. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in Christ's name that you would call every one
of us by your grace to yourself Call us to believe on thy dear
Son. And Lord, we're calling upon
your name right now. Lord, save us. Have mercy on
us. Reveal yourself to us. Call us
by your grace for the Lord's sake. Bless this message for
your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.