The Father's Call

a book written within and on
the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven, nor in
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much, and I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open the book and to read the book, and
neither to look thereon. What is this book? It was not the Bible, because
I just opened this book and read it and looked thereon. But this book is the book of
God's decrees, of God's eternal covenant, of God's eternal purpose. This is the book of life. All
that our God has decreed and designed for His kingdom, His
everlasting, eternal kingdom. Every name of every sheep. The covenant mercies of God. And no man was found worthy to
open that book, to bring to pass those purposes, to bring to pass
those decrees and that covenant, to put it in effect. And I wept. And he says in verse
5, And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. You know who that is, don't you?
That's Christ. The root of David, the offspring
of David, he hath prevailed. There was one Mike sang about
a while ago who was found worthy. He hath prevailed to open the
book, not only to look upon it, but to open it and to loose the
seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne." Who's on the throne? God's on the throne.
But the Lamb came from God because He is God. He's the Son of God. And this one who is worthy to
open the book and to loose the seals came from the midst of
the throne. He thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. I and my Father were one. And
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain. Christ,
our Lamb, our sacrifice, having seven horns and seven eyes, which
are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And He came, and He took the book. out of the right hand of
Him that sat upon the throne. Our representative, our servant,
our Lamb, our Lord, took the book. The book of life, the book
of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The
covenant mercies of the decrees of God. And He took it out of
the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when He
had taken the book, The four beasts and the four and twenty
elders fell down. It's time to rejoice. A while
ago it was a time to weep when no man was found worthy. A time
of despair. But now it's a time to rejoice.
And they rejoiced. They fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of the saints, and they sung a new song. saying, Thou art worthy, Thou
art worthy, and the only one who is worthy in heaven, earth,
and under the earth. There is one. There is one. He's worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain. And Thou
hast redeemed us to God. He has fulfilled every demand,
every commandment, every requirement, every jot and tittle, and hath
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, nation,
tongue, and people, and nation, and hath made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld,
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne,
and the beast and the elders, and the beast and the elders,
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand,
and thousands of thousands. saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and blessing, glory and blessing. Every creature which is in heaven,
every knee shall bow, every tongue every creature on earth, and
every one under the earth. And such as are in the sea, and
all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." the book. Eternal Father who shall look
upon the book. Eternal Father who shall look
into thy secret will. None but the Lamb can take the
book and open every seal. He shall fulfill thy great decrees. The Lamb deserves it well. Lo,
in his hand the sovereign keys of heaven, earth, death, and
hell. But I tell you this, there isn't a person here, not
one, from this pulpit to the last pew. There isn't a person
under the sound of my voice or who will hear this tape someplace
else. who wouldn't desire to look into
that book. Wouldn't you? Come on now. Oh, I'd give a pretty penny. My, my. And not so much, I confess,
not so much to know the glories and majesty and vastness of God's
eternal kingdom. That would be important, but
I'm afraid that wouldn't be what I'd be looking for. Mike, what would I be looking
for? My name. That's exactly right. If God
would let me tonight, see into that book, the very first thing I'd look
for, I love you, and I love you, but honestly, I have to confess,
I'd look for my name. Then I'd look for yours. You
would too. In fact, one man wrote a hymn,
Is My Name Written There? On those pages, white and fair,
tell me, Jesus my Savior, is my name written there? Well,
my friends, that can't be done. The book cannot be seen, nor
its secrets or its mysteries open to men. But while God has
not revealed unto us the names of those written in that book,
that book of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
that book of life, He has a whole lot to say in this book about
their calling, doesn't He? And their character. That's right,
let's see what Paul said over here in Romans chapter 8. Listen
to this, Romans chapter 8. While God does not give their
names, He does say a lot about their calling and character.
He says here in Romans chapter 8, verse 28, And we know that
all things work together for good, all of these decrees and
mysteries and secrets and covenant work together for good to them
who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose,
for whom He did foreknow in that book of life and predestinate
to eternal life, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Yes, moreover
whom he did predestinate, he called. I may not know my election, but
I can know my calling. Isn't that what he said? I can
know my calling. Back here in chapter 1 of Romans,
Paul says that. He says, He says in chapter 1
of Romans, listen to this, chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called, called to be an apostle. He says in
verse 6, among whom also you are the called of Christ Jesus. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints. Called. I know when somebody
has called me, I don't know who's going to call me. I'm not ESP. Is that what they say? I don't
know who's going to call me, but I know when the phone rings. And they do call me. Don't I? I don't know who's going to call
me tomorrow, but I'll know when he calls. And I know God called me. You
do too. I'll show you that in a few moments.
For you see your calling, brethren. Look at 1 Corinthians 1. Listen
to this. In 1 Corinthians 1, he says,
verse 26, you see your calling, brethren. You see your calling. You don't
see your name in the book, but you see your calling. You see, you're calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God had chosen. Whom He chose,
He called. Whom He predestinated, He called.
That's what He said. But God had chosen the foolish
things of the world. to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things, that's me, of the world to confound
the things that are mighty, and the base things, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, and the things which are not
to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. The question is not, am I elected? It's, am I called? I can't know
I'm elected except by my calling. Make your calling and election
sure. The question is not, am I one
of the predestinated? The question is, have I been
called? Have I heard Him? Listen to this. I got a letter
this week. I came over here to the church
to get the mail one morning, and Marty, picked this letter,
she said, you got to read this one. This is interesting. Just 26, 27 words, very short,
but powerful. I've heard from this person many
times. This person's been supporting the TV program and getting tapes.
I've heard from this person many times. Here's what the letter says,
for a while, I could not connect with your sermons. I wasn't plugged in, I wasn't
getting anything. I couldn't connect, I couldn't...
Then, then, on Sunday, June the 5th, last Sunday, I was overwhelmed
by the greatness of what you preached. Thank you. Thank you. What happened? You
know what happened? I know what happened. She heard. She was called. This dear lady, I just couldn't,
I just didn't, I didn't know what she was saying. She's intelligent,
I know. But that Sunday, she heard Him
speak who speaks through me and through the Word. Called. Called. I've never seen the Book
of Life. I don't know who the Father foreknew. I do not know whom the Father
predestinated. I do not know whom the Father
justified. I do not know whom the Father
would glorify. But I do know whom the Father
called, and whom He called, He justified. So don't start at that end of
this thing. Am I elected? The question is,
am I called? If I'm called, I'm elected. Well,
let me tell you something about this call. So I'm going to give
you six things, briefly. Six things about this call. First
of all, 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. First, it says here it's a holy
calling. It's a holy calling. In 2 Timothy
chapter 1 verse 9, listen. He hath saved us and called us
with a holy calling. What does that mean? It means
not according to our works. Because we don't have any personal
holiness. We don't have any personal righteousness. We don't have any works that
will present us to God and make us accepted. But He called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. This calling has to do with His
holiness, His righteousness. How can He be just and justify? How can mercy and truth meet
together? How can righteousness and peace
kiss one another? How can we be holy and unblameable
when we're not holy and unblameable. Well, it's not according to our
works. It's not according to our deeds. It's according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before
the world began. That's what it is. Before the world began. Look
at the next verse. And it's now manifested by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel."
Do you see that? Then you've been called. God
called you, you see. He gave you an understanding
and a revelation that salvation is of the Lord, salvation by
His grace. By His grace in Christ Jesus,
salvation is by His holiness and His righteousness, not according
to our works, but according to His purpose and grace. I see
it. He called me. And when He called
me, and in this calling, it was a holy calling to holiness in
Christ, to righteousness in Christ. All right, secondly, turn to
Philippians 3. It has to do with His holiness.
And then Philippians 3 says this, this calling, Philippians 3 verse
13, listen, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
I haven't arrived, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's not only a holy calling,
it's a high calling. It's a heavenly calling, Paul
said in Hebrews 3. Is my call a high calling which
has lifted my affection to things above? Set your affection on
things above. That's a high call. Call to a
high heavenly vocation. Is my call a high calling which
has filled my heart with a love for Christ? Is my call a high
calling which has lifted my taste from the things of this world
to the things that I've got? Is my call a high calling which
has lifted my desires from seeking worldly praise and worldly glory
to seeking first the kingdom of God? Is my call a high calling which
has changed the tenor of my life from worldliness to prayer and
praise and worship, thanksgiving and peace in Christ? That's a
high calling. I can't know my election, but
I can know my calling. And if I'm called, I'm elected.
And it's a holy calling, Christ's holiness. But it's a high calling,
a calling from worldliness to spiritual walk. Walk not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit. You know, most people have a
wrong definition of worldliness. Did you know that the Pharisees
thought the Lord Jesus Christ was worldly? Yeah, they did. You see, when He drank wine and
made that water into wine, they called Him a wine-bibber. Worldly. When He went to their feast instead
of to their fast, they called Him a gluttonous man. When he visited with sinners
and publicans and prostitutes and harlots and trying to talk
to them about the things of God, they called him the friend of
sinners. They connected worldliness with
the same thing that people today connect worldliness. It's outward
things. He's worldly because he has a
glass of wine or something of that nature. But my friends,
let me tell you something. A person may be quite moral and
quite religious and quite doctrinally sound and be worldly, because
worldliness has to do with the affections. Worldliness has to
do with the attitude. This man who went to prison,
from Charlotte, North Carolina, from television popularity, Baker
was one of the most worldly men who ever lived. The things he cared for, the
things he was interested in, the things that drew him were
worldly. You can be in the pulpit and
be worldly. Worldliness has to do with the
attitude. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God. Take no thought saying, well,
what am I going to drink? What am I going to wear? How
shall I be clothed? God knows you have need of those
things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God. These things will be added to you. That's worldliness. Being too involved in this world
with the things of this world, and the people of this world,
and the interests of this world, and things which draw you away
from Christ. That's worldliness. That's exactly
right. This calling is a high calling. It's a heavenly calling. Then
thirdly, the Father's call is a call to repentance. Turn to
Matthew 9, Matthew chapter 9, a call to repentance. In Matthew
chapter 9, Our Lord said here, it says in verse 11 of Matthew
9, and He says, And when the Pharisees saw it, that is, our Lord eating
with these publicans and sinners, when the Pharisees saw it, they
said to His disciples, Why does your Master eat with these people?
Why does He eat with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard
that, He said to them, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Now you go learn what that means.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This call is a holy calling. We find our
holiness in Him, our righteousness. It's a high calling. Away from
the dunghill to the throne. And it's a call to repentance.
We have repented. We do repent. We shall repent. What is repentance? What is true
repentance? I believe the best definition
can be found in Psalm 51. I really do. Psalm 51. I tell you this, repentance is
toward God. It's toward God. It's a spirit
of repentance. Now watch this. In Psalm 51.
First of all, repentance acknowledges that it lies with God to show
mercy. Look at verse 1. Have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercies brought out by transgression. This thing
of mercy has to do with Almighty God's lovingkindness. Not what
I deserve. You know, they asked Spurgeon
one time, said, why did God love Jacob and hate Esau? Why did God love Jacob and hate
Esau? Well, he says, first of all,
the reason why God loved Jacob was found in God. The reason
that God hated Esau was found in Esau. God loved Jacob because he found
in his heart to love Jacob. He hated Esau because he found
in Esau plenty of reasons to hate him. Somebody said one time, I jotted
it down, it said, Esau didn't lose his birthright, he sold
it. He sold it. deliberately, willingly
sold it. That brought the wrath of God. Every man who loses heaven gives
it up himself. Every man who loses eternal life
rejects it himself. He says, I prefer my way to God's
way. The house of folly suits me better
than the house of God. The applause of men mean more
to me than the praise of God. The religion of works suits me
better than the righteousness of Christ. Salvation is God's
election. Damnation is man's election. I choose my way. Isn't that right? Do you know anybody God's making
to sin? I know some folks God is making
to be righteous by His grace, and that's Jacob. That's Jacob. Listen to this. Why did God hate Esau? He deserved
to be hated. Mercy saves a man, justice damns
a man. Esau, even after he found out
his brother had the birthright, what was his reaction? He said,
when my daddy dies, I'll kill that rascal. He sought repentance,
but he never repented. So this thing here in verse 1,
do you understand that? Sure you do. Because you've been
called. And we understand that mercy
lies with God. Mercy is God's election. Damnation,
man's election. I choose my way. Verse 2. Repentance has to do with a desire
to be cleansed from sin. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me. Cleanse me. Cleanse
me, O God. Forgive me. Verse 3. It confesses and acknowledges
sin. I acknowledge my transgression,
my sins ever before me. That's repentance. Verse 4, it owns sin to be against
God, against thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight. And it acknowledges that God
is just when He condemns, that you may be justified when you
speak and clear when you judge. My friends, I find in myself
that calls a repentance, don't you? I can't see the book, but I can
certainly see evidences of a call. It's a holy calling. My holiness
is not according to my works. I wouldn't mention in connection
with my name works before God, would you? I detest even the
thought. It's like I read this week of
a man who found a counterfeit bill. And when he realized it
was counterfeit, he ran and burned it, and rubbed it off his hands,
afraid somebody might have caught him with it, or suspected he
had it. And that's the way it is with
this thing of salvation. But worse, I don't want to even
be caught with it, or anybody to suspect I even had it. It's
a holy calling. It's a high calling. Set your
affection on things above. Oh, to be like Him. It's a call
to repentance. We go through this every day.
Have mercy upon me according to your lovingkindness. Wash
me. Acknowledge my sin. It's against
you. And you're just to condemn me.
You wouldn't feel that way if you hadn't been called. Now,
fourthly, and it's a call, turn to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter chapter
2. Verse 9, listen to this, 1 Peter
2, 9. You, your chosen generation,
your royal priesthood, your holy nation, your peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of Him who called you. He called you out of darkness. He called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. What is this darkness? Well,
I know it's the darkness of sin, which is common to all men. Common
to all men. Common to all men. He's called
us out of the darkness of sin. But we still find much of it
in us and about us. Yes, we do. But we're being saved
and we're being cleansed. But He has very definitely and
very positively And once for all called us out of the darkness
of false religion into the light of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. That's right. Out of darkness. Out of darkness. Let me show
you a scripture in Matthew 6. I want you to look at this. I've
been here. I've been here. Matthew 6, 22
and 23. I've been here. And most of you have. Saul of
Tarsus, he said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a
Pharisee, blameless, religious, but these things that were gained
to me, one time was all my light and understanding was religion,
ceremony, deeds, form, worship, righteousness, law, commandments,
duties. I count them but doomed that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. I count them but lost
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Out of the darkness
and bondage of religion into the freedom and liberty of Christ,
the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We've
been called out of darkness into His light. Look here at Matthew
6, verse 22. The light of the body
is the eye. If therefore your eye be single,
that word is sound and clear. If your eye be sound and clear, your whole body is full of light.
If your eye is sound and single and simplicity and clear, looking
to Christ and Christ alone, your whole body is full of light. But if your eye be unsound, unclear,
the whole body is full of darkness, You look into works, you look
into religion, you look into ceremony, you look into duty,
and it gets darker and darker and darker and darker. And listen,
and if therefore all the light you got is darkness, how great
is that darkness. If all the light, if therefore
the light that's in you, and all the light you've got about
salvation, and redemption, and glory, and God, and salvation,
and redemption, and forgiveness, if it consists in your works,
and your duties, and your righteousness, and your church, darkness, bondage,
how great is that darkness! How great is that darkness! Well, We've been called out of that
darkness. This dear lady here says, I see. That's what she's
saying. I see. I see. You know what I'm talking about,
Pete? Out of darkness. Bondage. Into light. I see. No more the drudgery of
religion. No more trying to No more duty,
but choice. No more, this is my responsibility,
this is my delight. Out of darkness. All right, watch
this now. Here's another one. 1 Corinthians
1-9. It's calling. I can't see the book, but I can
see the call. 1 Corinthians 1-9. Listen to this. God is faithful. by whom you
are called. God is faithful by whom you were
called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And nobody likes to stand before
a congregation of people and talk about his fellowship with
Christ. But I will read you what Spurgeon
said about this scripture right here. Do I have fellowship with Christ? Do I commune and converse with
Him? Do I really love His Word, His
Church, His people, His glory, His Gospel? Am I willing to suffer
with Him and for His sake? Do I love what He loves and hate
what He hates? Do I labor in His cause with
labor of love and works of faith? Is my greatest joy and my greatest
hope that I shall one day see Him and be like Him and be with
Him, that I'm called? That I'm called, called in the
fellowship of His Son. The fellowship is the fellowship
with Christ. And John the Apostle wrote and
said, this is why I'm preaching, that you may have fellowship
with us and our fellowship is with His Son. The fellowship
of this congregation is not around a doctrine, it's around a person.
It's not around a denomination. I wouldn't care. If we didn't
have Baptists out there at all, it's Christ. Christ. Christ. He is the cornerstone
and the foundation, the rock. We've been called, all right,
what's this now? The last one. Galatians 5.13. Galatians 5.13. I tell you, this
gives me a little hope, doesn't it, you? That book scares me. It's too awesome. Too awesome. All of it scares me, but especially
that book and the thoughts of it. But I can see, I can see
some evidences that God has not passed us by nor left us alone,
but He's called us. Galatians 5 verse 13 says this,
Brethren, you have been called unto liberty. It's a call to
liberty. We're God's free man. We're set
free from the curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. We're set free from the bondage
of circumcision and dietary laws. We don't have to go back to the
Old Testament to see what we can eat and what we can drink
and what we can wear and what day we can meet together on.
We don't have to search and study those laws and circumcision and
the laws of ceremony and sacrifice. We don't. We're set free from
holy days and Sabbath days and tithes and taxes and all these
things. That old husband, the law is
dead. We're married to another and
we take his picture off the wall. Married to Christ. Isn't that
right? Free from the law. Oh, happy condition. Jesus has
bled, and there is remission. Cursed for the law, bruised by
the power, Christ hath redeemed us. We're God's free men. We worship God in spirit. We
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in this
flesh. Oh, but there's something else here. Ah, but there's something else
on verse 13. Brethren, you've been called
into liberty, unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh. But by love serve one another.
A believer who's been called never justifies his sin by the
fact he's not under law. No, sir. No, sir. No believer ever justifies his
failures and infirmities and weaknesses by the fact that he
saved a tribe. There are the commandments of
Christ. There is the assembly of believers. There are days of worship and
days of prayer. I just read that. I was glad
when they said to me, let's go to the house of God. There is
the grace of giving. There is the grace of sharing.
There are works of faith. There are labors of love. There's
a mortification of this flesh. There's a crucifixion of this
flesh. There's a walk of faith. And
there's a patience of hope. And we've been called to liberty,
but not to use it to licentiousness. My conclusion No, it's not necessary
to see the book, the book of the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. It's not necessary to see the
book of life to know that my name is written there. He has
sent forth His Spirit into my heart, bearing witness, and I
cry, Abba, Father. And that Spirit takes this Word
and applies it here. And I see Not so much my name
as my nature in Christ and my position in Christ. Long
years ago when I was a boy, I was thinking about this. I faintly
remember somewhere riding a ferry, a ferry boat across a wide river
The river was very wide. I remember that. Maybe I thought
it was wider than it was, because I was so small. But I remember
the river was wide, and the river was swift, and the river was
deep. And I was afraid. And there were
a lot of people on that ferry. No cars, just people crossing
the river, because there was no road going across there. And I remember there was a cable
from one bank to the other. A cable. And that cable was attached
to that ferry. That cable was attached to that
ferry. I don't remember how they propelled the ferry. They may
have rowed, I'm not sure, but there was a cable. It was attached
to this shore and to that shore and it went under the water.
I couldn't see the cable except as it came up on the side of
the boat on those wheels. It was between wheels. It was
underneath the water, and I understand now why it wasn't tight and taut,
because the water would go down and the water would rise. In
floods it would rise, in dry times it would go down. The cable
was under the water. Unseen, but it was attached to
that shore and is attached to that shore. And I saw it on the
side of that boat. Now then, as far as God electing
me, He did. And as far as my getting to the
other shore, I will, because there's a cable that goes from
whom He foreknew and predestinated. He called, and He preserves,
and He keeps, and by His Spirit teaches and matures, keeps me
in line.

The Father's Call

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The Father's Call

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