Now turn again in your Bibles
back to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. Last time we studied and brought
our message from Mark chapter 1 verse 14 and verse 15, we learned
that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a mere invitation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a command. All men everywhere, he says here,
the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Mark 1 15. Repent and believe the gospel. The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ is a command. We have no option. God says,
believe Him. Now in our message today, we
see the Lord Jesus Christ, as the captain of our salvation,
calling out four sinners, four of His disciples, four sinners
saved by His grace, saved and called by the effectual, irresistible,
powerful call of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16 says, as He
walked by the sea, He saw those sheep that were His, And they
were busy fishing. And he says unto them, Come after
me, and I will make you. I will make you to become fishers
of men. And you know what? They followed
him. They obeyed his command. Some old writer said years ago,
Our Lord is more than a mighty orator beseeching men. He is
a mighty operator, quickening the hearts of dead men to life
and salvation. You hath He quickened who were
dead." Here we see the effectual call of the Savior, the Lord
Jesus, extended to His sheep. They do hear His voice and they
do follow Him immediately. Here we see the Lord of glory
on a trail of His sheep. The Good Shepherd looking for
His lost sheep. He says, I am come to seek and
to save that which is lost. He has a people in this world.
He calls them His elect, His bride, His jewel, and He's on
their trail. As the Good Shepherd, He will
run them down, and He will save them by His grace and take them
to glory. He passed by this way as He walks
here in verse 16, not by chance. He walks this way by purpose,
seeking out those for whom he will pay their sin debt. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. As he walked by the sea, he saw
Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. He passed by this way on purpose
to call out his people. You see, he has known these from
eternity. The foundation of God standeth
sure, the Lord knoweth them that are His." He's loved His people
with an everlasting love and with loving kindness, and that's
what's going on here. Loving kindness, He does draw
them out of darkness, out of sin, out of misery, He does draw
them out of condemnation to salvation in Himself. This is what we call
the effectual call of the Gospel. These four sinners, Peter, Andrew,
James and John were among the multitude chosen out of Adam's
fallen race, among the multitude chosen to salvation in Christ
Jesus. We call that electing love. Now this is what the Scriptures
teach. Now find 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And
Adam all died, in Christ all shall be made alive. God has
an elect chosen people that He chose according to His own sovereign
will and determined to die for those people, to represent those
people, to be the charity for those people, and to call them
and save them by His purpose and grace. 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13, that we are bound to give thanks always to God For
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you." Who did the choosing? Our Lord said,
you didn't choose me, I've chosen you. He said that to those disciples. Remember He said, I chose you,
you didn't choose me. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit, that's the new birth, that's regeneration, which leads
to belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Electing
love, God's sovereign choice. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Now this is not only true of
these disciples, these early disciples, among whom the Lord
made in the apostles of Christ. This is true of every sinner
whom the Lord saves. This is true of you, if you are
a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. If God has saved you, it is because
He has chosen you to salvation from all eternity. He loved His
own with an everlasting love. If God has saved you, it's because
it is by His purpose and grace that He has called you, that
He has saved you. Turn to 1 Thessalonians this
time. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. You see, when He sends the gospel
with this irresistible call, the call of the gospel, we hear
just not word, but we hear by the power of God. which effectually
gives us life and calls us to faith, calls us to Christ in
faith. 1 Thessalonians 1. A little verse
4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Well, how do we know anything
about God choosing us from eternity? Well, our election is known by
our calling. Make your calling and election
sure. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. You did hear the gospel. but
also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance,
as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."
Now watch this, verse 6, "...and you became followers of us and
of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Spirit." The effectual call of the gospel
is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look back in our text again,
Mark chapter, turn to Mark, and this time find Mark chapter 2.
Mark chapter 2, here's another example of this effectual call.
And the result of that effectual call, the result of that is,
They follow the Lord. And it's the same today. Those
whom He effectually calls, irresistibly calls with the Gospel, they fall
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and they follow Him. They follow
Him. Now in Mark chapter 2, look at
verse 14. Now here's another sinner that
God saved, Matthew the publican. He's known also by, verse 14,
Levi the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of customs. You
remember he was a tax collector. He was a publican. And said unto
him, Matthew, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Let me give you another example
of this found in the book of Mark. Find Mark chapter 8. Mark
chapter 8 verse 34. Mark 8, 34, when He had called
the people unto Him with His disciples, also He said unto
them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, take
up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake
and the Gospels, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for a soul? Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, and this adulterous
and sinful generation of him also, shall the Son of Man be
ashamed when he cometh in his glory, the glory of his Father,
with his holy angels." Deny yourself. Take up his purpose, his cross. His message, and follow, follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow Him. This is the effect
of that effectual call. It's a call out of darkness into
light, into Christ Jesus. Now, He said, follow Me. Now here's the question. What
is it to follow Him? What is it to follow the Lord
Jesus, or am I? Can I ask myself this question?
Am I a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I following Him as
He called me by His grace, and am I following Him? How can I
know? Well, I think four things. What
is it to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to believe His Word. It's to receive His Word, not
as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God.
It's to receive His Word, to believe His Word, and to follow
His instruction. Turn to John chapter 10. John
chapter 10. The result of this effectual
call, this effectual call is to follow the Lord Jesus. It's to believe His Word, to
believe His instruction, to receive His instruction, not putting
a question mark around the Word of God, but believing it as it
is the Word of God, inspired and God-given. John chapter 10. John chapter 10, look at verse
1, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not
by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
is the same as a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door of the shepherd of the sheep, to him the porter is openeth.
And the sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name,
and leads them out. And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they
know his voice. And a stranger they will not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
the stranger. The sheep that are called by
the Master, they know his voice. They recognize the power of his
voice, and they fall in love with him, and they follow him. Stay right there in John chapter
10. and look across the page at verse 25. The Jew said unto
him in verse 24, If ye be the Christ, tell us plainly. And
the Lord said, he answered them, he said, I told you and you believe
not. The works which I do in my Father's name, they bear witness
of me. But you believe not because you're
not, you're not my sheep, you're not my elect. I didn't die for
you. As I said unto you, my sheep
they hear my voice, I know them, and they do follow Me. And I
give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
to Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." What
is it then to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to receive
His Word, to receive His truth, believe His Word, and to follow
His instruction. That's following Him. It's to
be separated unto the gospel that is following Him. Turn to
Romans chapter 1. To be separated unto that gospel. That's what it is to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we've been called by
this gospel and it causes us to follow Him who is the gospel. Romans chapter 1. He is the gospel. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ has everything to do with Him and in reality has nothing
to do with me. It's all about Him, isn't it? It's all about the Lord Jesus,
who He is, what He did, why and where He is now. It's all about
Him. You see, it's not a man-centered message. It's a God-centered
message in Christ Jesus. This is what Paul says here in
Romans 1. Paul, a servant, Romans 1.1, Paul a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle. There's that effectual call of
God. And notice he calls himself a
servant of Christ. Separated unto the gospel of
God. Now whose gospel is it? It's
the gospel of God. Believers who follow the Lord
Jesus Christ are separated unto this gospel of God. They're committed
to this gospel that's of God. Now watch it, verse 2, which
he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
concerning his son. Now the Gospel of God that all
the prophets wrote about, preached about, to Him give all the prophets
witness. It's all about and concerning
who? The Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to flesh,
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the
Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. Now stay right here
in Romans 1 and look at verse 15. So as much as in me is, Paul
said, I'm God's servant, I've been called, I've been saved
by His grace, He has sent me to preach the gospel, verse 15,
so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel. The gospel
of God now, concerning the Lord Jesus, to you that are at Rome
also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. to
the Jew and also to the Gentile, for therein in this gospel is
the righteousness of God revealed." How he can be just? A just God
and Savior in Christ. The righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. This is the righteousness that
God freely gives us in the gospel. As it is written, the justified
shall live by Christ. That's what he's saying there,
the just shall live by faith. So what is it to follow him?
To believe his word? To be separated unto the gospel
of God. To go and preach that message
that's honoring to God, true to His Word, and glorifying to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Shunning all else. To be separated
unto that message. Paul said, woe is unto me if
I preach the gospel. Well, preacher, I can't go and
preach that gospel. You can support those who do.
You can be one with me as we go together as part of the body
of Christ and standing for this gospel, being separated unto
this gospel. That's following the Lord. Are
we following Him? Thirdly, what is it to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to contend for the faith.
Without compromise. To contend for the faith. Now
let me show you a couple of scriptures here. Find Jude. That's right
over there before the Revelation. Jude, just one chapter. So let's look at verse 3. What
is it to follow Him? Remember our Lord told those
fishermen when He called them by that powerful call of God,
powerful call of the Gospel, He said, follow Me. And they
forsook all and followed Him. They believed His Word. They
were separated unto the Gospel of God to preach that message
and to contend for the faith. Jude, first chapter, look at
verse three. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and to exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Earnestly, earnestly contend. What does that mean? It means
to stand fast. To stand fast. Now let me show
you a couple of scriptures. Philippians, turn over there.
Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. We've
been studying through Philippians on Wednesday night. And we have
read this verse here. To contend for the gospel is
to stand fast without wavering. Stand fast in the liberty with
which Christ has set us free. Philippians chapter 1, verse
27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and
see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affair, that you
stand fast, contend, one spirit, one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your
adversary." You contend for the gospel, and you will have some
enemies. I guarantee you. Now turn to
Philippians chapter 4, and he says this again, verse 1, Philippians
4.1, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, long for my joy
and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord. Don't budge. Don't compromise. Stand fast.
That's what it is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what
he said? Follow me, and I'll make you
fishers of men. Fourthly, here's the fourth thing.
What is it to follow the Lord Jesus? It's to continue to follow
Him. To continue to follow Him. He
that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Now find John chapter 8. It's
to continue to follow Him. To continue to follow Him. For
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end. Now notice if you will, John
chapter 8 first, and then we'll read a portion of John 15. John
chapter 8, now notice in verse 28, John 8, 28, Then said Jesus
unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, talking here
about going to the cross and dying for the sins of his people,
then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of
myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
And He that sent me is with me, the Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please Him. And He spake
these words, and many believed on Him." Now watch it. Then the Master said, the Lord
said to those Jews which believed on Him, or apparently believed
on Him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." What is it to follow the
Lord Jesus? It's to abide in Him. To continue
to follow Him. These all died in faith. Now find John 15. John 15. Abide in Him. Dwell, continue,
remain, stay steadfast in the Lord. John 15, Luke verse 5,
I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, abideth
in me. And I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit. But without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, is withered, and men gather them
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide
in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you." What is it to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ? Am I following Him? It's to believe
His Word, to be separated unto this Gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's to contend for the faith without
compromise, and it's to continue to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Put back the text again. Now
notice this. There is the effectual call unto
salvation. But there also, along with that,
there is an effectual call to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. To serve God's grace and truth
in Christ. Look what he says here. Back
at Mark chapter 1, verse 17. And the Lord said unto them,
Come after me, Come after me and I'll make you. I'll make
you to become fishers of men. You will serve no longer your
purpose, you'll serve my purpose." See what he's saying? There is
an effectual call to serve Him, His purpose, His cause, His truth. Now turn if you will to John
chapter 12. John 12, and I'll show you this in a couple of
scriptures. John chapter 12. I'll make you." Now, He didn't
say, you come and follow Me and you're going to make something
of yourself. He didn't say that, did He? He said, you follow Me
and I will make you. You see, He gets all the glory
in this. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. Now, in John chapter 12, look
at verse 26. If any man serve Me, let him
follow Me where I am. There shall also my servants
be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor." I'm interested
in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, not to be saved, but out of love
and gratitude to Him who did save me by His marvelous sovereign
grace. I'll make you become fishers
of man. We are to go into this world. and continually throw and cast
the gospel net. And that's what we do when we
preach the gospel. We throw that gospel net and
we pray that God will use that message to draw His people to
Himself. It's not, follow me because you're
going to make something big of yourself. He said, I'm going
to make you. I'm going to make you. to follow
Me and I'm going to make you to be fishers of men. You see,
it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. It is Christ who makes us to
follow Him. It is Christ who makes us trophies
of His grace to serve Him out of love and gratitude. I'm going
to show you a couple of Scriptures on that. Find 1 Corinthians 15. Why do we serve the Lord? We
love Him. We love Him. We love Him because
He first loved us. We don't serve Him because of
a fearful spirit. We don't serve Him. It's not
service out of fear of punishment. It's not service out of even
promise of reward. It's service out of love to the
Lord Jesus. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse
9 and 10. 1 Corinthians 15, For I am the
least of the apostles, that I'm not meet to be called an apostle
because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God
I am what I am. And His grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. I'll make you to be fishers of
men. But I labored more abundantly than they all. Paul called himself
the servant of the Lord, yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me." You see, we serve Him. out of grace, out of gratitude. He makes us fit, able to serve
Him, to love Him. Now to find 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. How do we serve Him? By serving
one another. That's right. 2 Corinthians 5
verse 14. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge If one died, the God-man did die,
he died for all, all were dead, all of his covenant people, they
were all dead in sin, and that he died for all, and that's all
his people, that they which should live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. We live not unto ourselves, We
serve a greater purpose in our life. A believer does. It's not
ours. It's His life in us. And we serve
His purpose, His will, His doing. You see what He's saying here?
He makes us fit, able, willing to serve Him. As the Apostle
said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He is my strength. He is my life. Now, he said, I'll make you fishers
of men. Now turn back to the text again,
verse 17. I'll give you an illustration
here and let you go. Come after me, I'm going to make you. I'm
going to make you a trophy, my grace. And I'm going to cause
you to be a preacher of the gospel, and you'll be no longer a fishers
of fish, you'll be fishers of men. You shall catch men. You have been fishers of fish,
but I'm going to change your occupation. Now I think we can
use the trade and craft of the commercial fisherman to illustrate
how the Lord makes us gospel fishermen. And if you're a believer
in Christ Jesus, you're in the ministry. You're in the ministry,
and some way or another you fit in this body of Christ, and you
serve not your purpose, but His purpose. Now, here's the illustration. Commercial fishermen. You ever
watch that show on the Discovery Channel? The deadliest catch
about those crab fishermen that fish up there on the Bering Strait?
Oh, I tell you, it's a dangerous business. You know the occupation
that has the highest death rate? It's not the firemen. It's not
the policemen. You know what it is? Fishermen.
Fishermen. It's a dangerous occupation.
Fishermen, I'll give you three things, fishermen are totally
dependent. Fishing is an act of faith, is
it not? Dependent upon the providence of God. He said, without me you
can do nothing. We are totally dependent upon God to bless our
effort as we cast the gospel net. We're totally dependent
upon Him. It's an act of faith. I fully
expect God to bless His Word and to bless His Gospel. Don't
you? Paul said, I planted, Paul swatted, God gave the increase. Fishermen are totally dependent
upon God's purpose, God's providence, and we as believers, fishing
after the souls of men, are totally dependent upon the power of God
to call His people to Himself. Secondly, fishermen are diligent,
persevering, laboring men. One doesn't sit at home and catch
fish. fishermen that go out there and
fish for those crabs, I tell you, they're laboring men. When
they go out, they work almost around the clock when they're
putting out those cages and drawing those in. One doesn't sit at
home. They toil and labor and diligently
pursue the fish. Remember what Peter said, Lord,
we have toiled all night. They're diligent in their business.
God help us to be tireless hard-working, unwearied fishers of men." See
what he's saying here? I'll make you to be fishers of
men. Thirdly, fishermen are bold and
daring. They take a measured risk when
they put their boat in the sea and fight those waves and that
salt, sea salt, and that coldness of those waves splashing over
the ship, and in their face, and the deck is slick, and all
these things are going on. But they're bold. They're daring
when they go to sea. They have an objective. Their
objective for a commercial fisherman, they don't want to go out there
and just, you know, float around. They want to go out there and
catch some fish. And they're bold and daring. They take risks.
They put their life on the line. Even so, gospel ministers are
bold to preach the gospel no matter the criticism. And we
have it. Now I want to show you a couple
of scriptures on this, and I'll let you go. Fishermen are bold
and daring. God's preachers are bold and
daring. They're not mealy mouths. They're
bold. Acts chapter 5. We've seen this
all the way through the book of Acts. And we take a measured
risk, knowing God's in control of all things, but we put our
lives on the line, not caring what men think. What's more important? What God says. When the apostles in Acts chapter
5, when they were beaten for preaching the gospel, it says
in verse 40, When they agreed and when they had called the
apostles and beaten them and commanded them they should not
speak in the name of the Lord Jesus, they let him go. What's old Peter going to do
here? Remember the Lord said, you follow me and I'll make you
fishers of men. Maybe we ought to just compromise
a little bit. No, look what it says. They are
bold and daring men. They departed from the presence
of the council rejoicing. that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for His name, and daily in the temple..." Oh,
it's in public! Daily in the temple! Right back
in their face! Opposition! They had enemies!
"...and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach the Lord
Jesus Christ." You see, they're bold and daring men. I'll give
you one other example, Acts chapter 14. Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle,
went to a city called Lystra in Acts chapter 14. And you know
what happened to Paul? They tied him to a wall and proceeded
to pick up rocks and to dash out his brains. And they did
such an effective job that they thought they killed him in verse
19. They stoned Paul and drew him
out of the city, supposing he had been dead. They did such
a good job at dashing out his brains that they took him up
by the heels and drug him out of the city. Paul, what are you
going to do? Quit? Go home? Look at verse 21. Let's read verse 20. Howbeit
as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came
into the city. And the next day he departed
with Barnabas to Derbe, and when they had preached the gospel
to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra,
Iconium, and Antioch. The very place where they persecuted
him and stoned him, he went right back in there and preached the
gospel again. You see, God made him a fisher
of men. God help us. God help us together as believers
called by the Lord Jesus Christ who is the captain of our salvation.
God help us to be trustful, diligent, bold fishers of men to His glory. To His glory. And I know this,
God will bless the means He has ordained. He has promised to
bless the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. He has ordained
that to the salvation of His people. And we're going to go
and preach this message and preach this gospel. And God will bless
it. God will own it.