Now, the great book of God's
decrees, of our Lord's kingdom, the kingdom
of God's dear Son, that great book of the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, that book of eternal life, is
closed against the curiosity of men. There is only one, only
one. The scripture says the Lion of
the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book to loose the
seven seals and look thereon, only one. The hymn writer said,
Eternal Father, who can look into thy secret
well? None but the Lamb. shall take
the book and open every seal. But how am I to know whether
God has chosen me? How am I to know if I'm one of
his sheep? I want to know. The question concerns me. Is my name written in the book
of life? Is my name in the book of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Until I can have some assurance
of that fact, I can find no rest. Some confidence, some assurance,
some evidence. If my name is written in the
book of life, I can find no rest. Because my relationship with
the Lord God concerns me more than all the things of this earth
put together. Is that not true? My relationship
with my Lord, my God, if it doesn't, it ought to, concern me more
than all the things of the earth put together. For what shall
it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?
My name written there? In answer to that question, I
found a statement that Charles Haddon Spurgeon made many years
ago. In writing on this subject, he
said, The Lord himself has written many pages in the Bible, his
word, regarding the people whose names are in the book of life.
God has written many things in his book concerning about the
people whose names are in his book. He hasn't called their
names in this book, but the character of his people is in this book. The walk of his sheep is in this
book. and lifestyle of his sheep is
in this book. In fact, their character and
their walk and their faith and their lifestyle is so vividly
described in this book that they not only recognize the work of
God in themselves by reading this book, but others also can
discern that spiritual transformation in them by reading this book.
Paul said that, turned to 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians. Paul said that.
When Paul wrote the letter to this church in Thessalonica,
this church which he loved so much, these people whom he loved
so much, these people to whom he ministered the Word, he wrote
about them. He saw in them. something that
revealed to him that they were God's elect, their names were
in the Book of Life. He saw something in them that
revealed to him. Now, he said in 1 Thessalonians
1, verse 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
I know your names in the Book of Life. I know that. I know you are God's elect. How?
Well, verse 5. For our gospel came not to you
in word only, it wasn't just a doctrine, a creed, but the
word of God came to you in power, it came to you in the Holy Ghost,
it came to you in much assurance. You know what manner of men we
were among you for your sake. You know our message, you know
our Lord, you know our gospel, you received us. And you became
followers of us. the disciples of Christ and of
the Lord Jesus, your follower. You are here, your follower,
and you have received the word in much affliction with joy of
the Holy Ghost. You are a sufferer for Christ's
sake. You have taken your place with Christ and you have been
persecuted for what you believe. And not only that, but you are
an example. To all who believe, you're an example to other believers.
You're an example in your walk, in your talk, in your conversation,
in your faith, to people in Macedonia and Achaia. And from you sounded
out the word of the Lord. You're a witness. You're a hearer.
You're a believer. You're a follower. You're an
example. You're a witness. To everybody, in every place,
your faith is spoken of. People talking about you folks
that believe God. But they themselves show what
manner of entering in we had among you, and you turn from
your idols, religious and otherwise, to serve the living God. And
you're waiting for his Son from heaven. That's marks of the believer.
Those folks' names are written in heaven. And then in 2 Thessalonians,
he said this to them. He said, here's another evidence
that you're God's elect. in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13,
but we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, and whereunto he called you. He called you. He chose you. He sanctified you
and he called you. How? By our gospel. You heard
the gospel. You heard it and believed it.
And to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
other words, whom he predestinated, he called. Whom he predestinated,
he called. How did he call them? By the
sanctification of the Spirit, belief of the truth, and hearing
the gospel, and believing it. I've told you many times that
old-timers talked about a general call. It goes out to the whole
world. Our Lord said, Go preach the
gospel to every creature. It goes out to the whole world.
The gospel is heard with these ears by people all over the world
today. But they don't hear it with this
heart. They don't hear it. I preached
on television this morning. I'll be preaching here and this
place and over in California and there are several other stations.
And a lot of people hear, I hate to use that word, a lot of people
listen, listen to what you're saying, but they don't hear it. It's a general call, but then
there's an effectual call, call of the Spirit. A call in power,
where the word goes forth, Paul said, effectually, it runs well. The arrow finds its mark, the
heart. And those people not only hear,
but they receive and embrace and heed and obey. That's what
he said, I've given, our Lord prayed to the Father, he said,
I've manifested your word, I've manifested it to the men you
gave me out of the world. And they have heard it, and they
have received it, and they have believed it. Now, that's effectual
call. I manifested it. I didn't just
give it to them. I manifested it to them. And they heard it, they believed
it, they received it. Now, that's effectual. Let me
illustrate it. Let's go over to John 7. John 7. I'm going to illustrate this. this general call and effectual
call. And it's the same messenger,
it's the same message, it's the same time, and it's the same
circumstances, but to some it's just a general announcement,
to others it's a personal proclamation. Now watch this. In John chapter
7, verse 37, in the last day That great day of the feast.
Now they had a 3 or 4 day feast, religious feast, ceremonies,
sacrifices, priests and Pharisees preaching and all these things.
This is the last day and people from all over the world have
been there for this feast, packing up and going home. Just as empty
as when they came. Not having any understanding
at all of who God is and how we can get to God. And they're
leaving. And Jesus stood, the Son of God stood and cried, evidently
with a loud voice. If any man, he's talking to a
multitude, if any man thirsts, spiritual thirst, the spiritual
weariness, the spiritual hunger, the desire to know God, if he
thirsts, let him come to me, and he that believeth on me,
As the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. Come to me! How many people of
you haven't heard that? Hundreds! Hundreds! How many
really heard it? That man down here that said,
I'm thirsty, I'm hungry to know God. I want peace and life and
rest and godliness. This man must have it. I'm going
to come and sit at his feet and hear what he has to say." He
heard it. General Carl? Defectual. Whom he predestinated, he called. Here's another example, Matthew
11. Turn to Matthew 11. General Carl? Matthew 11. has rebuked the cities, Capernaum,
Bethsaida, all these cities in which his mighty works were done,
mighty works. In Matthew 11, verse 24, he said,
I say unto you, these cities, Capernaum, it will be more tolerable
in the judgment, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for you. And at that time Jesus answered
and said, now he's talking to the Father here, I thank you,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've hid these things
from the wise and prudent, worldly wise, crafty, professional. You've revealed it unto babes.
For even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All
things are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knows
the Son, but the Father, and neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Now
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest." How many folks here haven't heard that? He's been
preaching to a multitude. He's been rebuking all these
cities. He's been rebuking them. Then he prays to the Father and
declares God's sovereignty and power and grace and mercy and
salvation. Then he says, come to me. All
of you that labor in a heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Come
to me. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me. You'll find rest for your souls."
How many of you haven't heard that? He's always a multitude
around. Who really heard it? I tell you,
that man who says, I am weary. I can't get this load off my
back and off my heart. I'm a sinner. Oh, what a great
sinner I am. I need rest. I'm going to come,
Lord, I'm going to come. And I'm going to learn of you,
and I'm going to follow you until I find rest." That hurt, he hurt. Here's another one, Isaiah 45. Here's that general call, and
our Lord told us, Go preach it to every creature. He that believeth
shall be saved. But how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? They've got to hear. Isaiah, I love this passage here.
I'm going to give you an illustration while I read it. In Isaiah chapter
45, verse 21, "'Tell ye, bring them near, let them all take
counsel together.' Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who
declares the end from the beginning? Who told it from that time? Have
not I the Lord? There's no God else beside me.
I'm a just God and a Savior. There's none else beside me.
Look to me and be your Savior. All the ends of the earth. I'm
God. I'm God. There's none else. Look
to me. How many Jews, and this was written back here by Isaiah
in the Old Testament hundreds and hundreds of years before
Christ came. How many of you reckon have read that? How many
times has it read in the synagogue, read in the temple, read on the
street? read and preached for 2,500 years. How many people have heard that,
at least with these ears? And read it. There it is. That's
a general call. Almighty God says, I'm God, there's
none else. He says, Christ, I'm the God-man.
Look to me, look to me and be saved. Back in 1850, there was
a 16-year-old boy, grandson of a great Presbyterian preacher,
that was going to his church one Sunday morning, because everybody
went to church then. He wasn't a believer. He didn't
know the gospel. He was a seeker. He studied the
Word. His grandfather helped raise
him, taught him the Word. His father was a believer, his
mother. But he was on his way to church
and it was snowing. He got hairy. And he saw it was
going to be late. And they didn't dare be late
back then. They just didn't. Would you keep God waiting? That's
what he felt about it. You just don't do that. You don't
do that. If you're going to meet God,
you go on time, or before time. Get ready. And he wouldn't go
to his church because he was going to be late. So he saw this
little primitive Methodist church, and he's never been inside his
life. So he went in, and he sat down back on the right-hand side.
It wouldn't hold over 45, 50 people. And there wasn't many
folks there that morning. Snow was too deep. And the pastor
wasn't there, couldn't make it. And one of the elders, one of
the elders got up to preach. And he read that scripture I
just read to you. He read that scripture. He says, look to me. All the ends of the earth, I'm
God, there's none else. And that young man said, I saw the message. I saw the gospel. I saw the Redeemer. And by God's grace, I looked
and peace came in my heart. That was Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
became one of the greatest preachers this earth's ever listened to.
He heard it. He heard. Whom he predestinated,
he called. My sheep hear my voice, and they'll
come to me. And I give them eternal life.
That's the effectual calling. Now I want to preach this message
and give you three things. Number one, I want to try to
give you some pictures of those who are called. Some pictures
of those who are called. And secondly, the character of
the call. What kind of call is it? The
definition of the call. And then the certain effect.
Whom he predestinated, he called. And whom he called, he justified.
Let me say, if he called you, you're coming. You come and when
he calls you, not until, but you'll come, and you'll be in
glory. Guaranteed. Your name is in the
book of life if he calls you. If he calls you, he predestinates
you, because whom he predestinates, he calls. Let's look at Lazarus. Do you see that stone? And in
your mind, imagine that stone in front of that grave. Lazarus
has been buried. And that stone needs to be there.
Because within that grave, behind that stone, is a dead, rotten,
putrid corpse. His own sister, when the Lord
said, Move the stone, she said, No. He's been dead four days. He stinks. His own sister said,
Don't do that. He stinks. A dead man, putrid,
defiled, hopelessly, helplessly dead. But standing here is a
man, and despite his lowliness in appearance and reputation,
he is God Almighty. He has all power in heaven and
earth, over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as God
has given him. And he says, I said, roll away the stones. And they
rolled away the stones, and then the call came. effectual,
in power, sovereignly, to a man in whom the worms were already
feasting. Lazarus, come forth. And from the tomb came a living
man, still wrapped in the grave clothes, still with a lot of
evidences on him that he had definitely been dead. He walked
out. And the same one who said, roll
away the stone, and spoke to Lazarus, and Lazarus heard him,
came forth. He came forth. Sovereign grace,
sovereign mercy, effectual mercy, particular mercy, he called him
by name. Lazarus come forth. And the scripture
says, and you, who were dead in trespasses and sin, Wherein
in times past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the principle of fire there, in whom we all had
our conversation, in our lust of the flesh and lust of the
mind and pride of life, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, he said, Come forth,
and you came. just like Lazarus, just as dead
spiritually as he was physically. That's a factual call. Saul of
Tarsus. I'm going to get right down to
where we are. You see that proud Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus? You
can picture him, can't you? Riding in front of his army of
religious fanatics. All these fellows, they were
all dead in trespasses and sin too, but they didn't know it.
Saul of Tarsus was dead. He said, before the law came,
I lived. But when it came, I died. He
was dead. He just didn't know it. But he's
religious. Oh, how religious he is. How
moral he is. He's serving God. Serving God
with all his might in order to merit eternal life. He hates
the gospel of grace. He hates the name of Jesus Christ.
He hates all who believe in Christ. He hates all who believe in grace.
He's a Pharisee, religious, legalist,
a fighter for his doctrine. And up there in glory, watching
him, is the man Christ Jesus, already died for us. Already
seated in heaven, he loves Saul. Saul doesn't love him, but he
loves him. He's one of his sheep. He's one
of those predestinated to life. That's what Saul himself said
later. He said, God separated me from my mother's womb. And
then one day he revealed his son in me. But Saul is a chosen
vessel. Christ said that later. He said,
he's a chosen vessel to me. This man who is dead, but who
is so religious, so religious, so religious, Forty-five years
old, he's been in religion all his life. Raised in it, steeped
in it, taught in it, traditionalized in it, hates Christ and the grace
of God, earning his way to heaven. But he's one of God's elect.
And from heaven, that one said, just like the one who stood before
Lazarus Graham, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It's hard
for you to kick against the pricks. And Saul was smitten and fell
down. He said, all of us fell down.
The light was so brilliant and bright, I heard the voice. Those that were with me saw the
light, but didn't hear the voice. They saw something going on.
They knew something unusual was going on. They didn't have the
foggiest notion of what it was, but Saul did. His master called
him. The shepherd called him. He heard
him. He heard his voice. He said,
who are you, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecuted. In proof of the fact he heard
it, he said, what would you have me do? Just tell me. Some of you were
in religion. dead and didn't know it, in religion,
just like Saul of Tarsus. And then one day, somewhere,
from someone, you heard the voice of Christ calling you through
the Word, didn't you? I tried. Well, here's another
one. Think about this one, Zacchaeus. Our Lord was entering into the
city of Jericho to preach. And my, what a crowd of people
was around him. As I said, always, everybody heard what he had to
say, but nobody believed it. Not many, some did, effectually. But there was a crowd of people
around him as he walked down the street, and there's a publican. Now, publican, this publican
in particular, was a Jew. He was a fellow that was dead
in Sinai, didn't know it. He had religion. He grew up in
religion. All his life he was in religion,
in the Jewish religion. And then he left it. And he became
a Roman tax collector, an extortioner. Isn't that right? An extortioner,
a worldly man. Now here you've got two different
men. You've got Saul of Tarsus, who's
as clean as a houndstooth, as straight as a gun barrel, and
twice as empty, you know. Religious, but didn't know God. And here you've got a man who
used to go to church. He used to go to the temple, used to
take part in the services, used to, used to, used to, used to,
Mr. Used to. But he's out there in the world
now making a lot of money. In fact, he's cheated so many
people, he told the Lord, he said, I'll restore them fourfold.
I've got so much, I'll just start giving it away to everybody because
I've been such a crook. Well, he wanted to see who the
Lord was. He was curious about this great man that had turned
the world upside down. Just curious, that's all. Being
a Jew himself, and this man is a Jew from the tribe of Judah,
and what tribe old Jack Eves was from, but he ran ahead. He
was too short to see over the crowd in front of him, so he
ran ahead, climbed up a tree, got up there amid the foliage
so nobody could see him, peeping out through the foliage, peeping
out. Now, he was one of God's elect.
Nobody would know it, would they? He didn't know it. Nobody else
but the Son of God knew him. He had known him from the foundation
of the world. He saw him go climb up that tree. He saw him behind
all those leaves, peeping out. He saw him trying to hide himself
and still get his glimpse of Christ. But the Lord just kept
walking, moving toward that tree. Our Lord knows him, loves him,
sees him, will save him, but no indication to anybody or Zacchaeus,
even Zacchaeus, that And when the Savior walked along, talking
to the people, until he came to that tree, and then the scripture
said, he lifted up his eyes and looked into the eyes of Zacchaeus.
And he said, Zacchaeus, you make haste and come down. I'm going
to your house today. This day salvation has come to
this house. And the shot was fired, it hit
its mark, it always does. Every time I preach the gospel,
I know this, right now, every time I preach the gospel, the
target my Lord is aiming at will be hit. It will be smashed. It will be broken. The rest of
them, like this bunch of people around Zacchaeus, didn't hear
a blooming thing. Like the people around Saul of
Tarsus. They saw something was going on, but didn't have any
idea what it was. Zacchaeus did. He made haste
and came down. The bird fell. Pow! And he wailed. He fell. He fell all the way
into the arms of the second. Went home with him. Went home
with him. Let me give you one more. I want
you to turn to 1 Samuel 3. This called, called, whom he
predestinated, he called. Oh, yes, he did, he will, he
does, he always will. And they'll hear and they'll
come. They'll come out of their grave, they'll come out of their
religion, and they'll come out of the world. That's the story
we've been talking about, isn't it? They'll come out of their
dead grave, their dead state, they'll come out of their false
religion, that which was gained in me I count lost, all things. And they'll come out of the world
if he calls them. He's calling out a people for
his name. He's calling out for himself.
Now, watch here in 1 Samuel. Now, here's what I'm working
on, chapter 3. You hold it and look up at me just a minute.
Listen. Sometimes when the Lord calls a man or a woman, that
person doesn't realize it's the Lord who's calling him. You see,
he didn't come to church to hear the Lord. He came to hear the
preacher. So he came to hear. He didn't come to church to hear
from God, he came to hear the choir, or Mike sing. Or he came because his wife wanted
him to. Or he came for some other reason.
And when God spoke to him, he didn't realize it was the Lord
who was speaking to him through the Word. He might have been
impressed with Mike singing, a great song. He might have been
impressed with the ministry. and maybe decide to have a talk
with him. He may be occupied with the people around him, but
he didn't realize it was God. I've had people say, Boy, the
preacher seemed like he knew my case this morning. Now, he
didn't, but God did. I've had people say, It seems
like he's preaching only to me. He just singled me out this morning.
No, I didn't. I'd never do that. I wouldn't do that for anything.
But God will. Right there in front of all those
people. Right there in front of all those
people. He'll single you out. He'll strip you. He'll make bare
your heart. He'll reveal things to you and
about you that you didn't even know. Don't you listen to this. Now, 1 Samuel 3, and the child
Samuel, he ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word
of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. It came to pass at that time
when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to
wax dim, and he could not see. And there the lamp of God went
out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and
Samuel was laid down to sleep, and the Lord called Samuel. He
said, Here am I. And Samuel didn't know it was
the Lord. That's what I'm saying. Sometimes God speaks to a man
and he doesn't know it. That's the Lord. He knows somebody is
talking to him. Maybe it's a preacher. Maybe it's just a friend. But
he thought as he ran to Eli and said, Here I am. You called me.
And Eli said, I didn't call you. You lie down. And he went and
lay down again. And the Lord called again, Samuel.
Samuel arose and went to Eli. See, that's just normal. That's
just a lot of times human nature. Something is going on, and we
go talk to the counselor, talk to the preacher, talk to somebody.
I need to talk to somebody. No, you need to listen to somebody.
You don't need to talk to anybody. No, this is what Samuel is doing. He wants to know about talking
to Eli. Eli said, he said, I didn't call you, my son, lie down. Now,
Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He didn't know the Lord, neither
was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. And the Lord
called Samuel the third time, and he arose and went to Eli,
and he said, Here I am, you did call me. And Eli perceived that
the Lord had called the child. And Eli said, Samuel, go lie
down, and it shall be, if he calls you, that you just say
to him, Speak, Lord, your servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay
down, and the Lord came and stood and called as at other times,
Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answers, speak, thy
servant hears. Isn't that beautiful? And isn't
that a lesson for you young people and everybody here? When the
Word speaks, when God speaks, it doesn't need to be confirmed
by a preacher or somebody else. You don't need to run to, you
run to him. You run to him. Lord, I'm your
servant. I've got ears to hear now. You've
awakened me, and now I'm just going to sit and listen. Go lie
down and listen. That's the best advice I know.
Go lie down and listen. I've got to give you this, and
I'm going to close. The definition or character of this call, turn
to 2 Timothy 1. The first thing about this call
is it's of grace, all of grace, not of works. 2 Timothy 1. all of grace, not of works. 2 Timothy 1.9, he hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose, whom he predestinated
he called. And grace, which was given us
in Jesus Christ before the world began, was now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior. It's a call of grace. Your works
have nothing to do with it. God said, I'll be merciful to
whom I will be merciful, I'll be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, all of grace. Now, Galatians 1, the second
thing about this call, it is a call to come to Christ, not
to come to the Church, or to a doctrinal position, is to come
to Christ. In Galatians 1, verse 15, Galatians
1, verse 15, But when it pleased who separated me from my mother's
womb, whom he predestinated, and called me by his grace. Then
he also called," why? "...to reveal his Son in me,"
to reveal his Son in me, not to me as my personal Savior,
but in me as my reigning, living Lord, as the difference in me. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. Christ who is my life shall appear,
then shall I appear with him in glory. All right, here's the
third thing. It's a call to glory. In John
17, whom he predestinated, then he called. Whom he called, he
justified. Whom he justified, he will glorify. He will glorify. In John 17,
verse 22, verse 20, And neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which
thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one as
we are. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect and one, that the world may know
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Whom
he predestinated he called. And whom he called, he glorified.
And the effects of that call is the rest of that chapter 8.
It's assurance and confidence and hope in Christ, whom we believe.