That Holy Calling

Q: What does the Bible say about God's holy calling?

The Bible teaches that God has called us with a holy calling according to His purpose and grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Timothy 1:8-9). In 2 Timothy 1:8-9, it is emphasized that God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, which is not based on our works but is according to His own purpose and grace. This divine calling is rooted in God's eternal plan that was established before the creation of the world, demonstrating that salvation is entirely an act of divine grace. This calling is a powerful and effectual summons from God to enter into a relationship with Him, marked by holiness and set apart for His purposes.

Q: How do we know election is true?

Election is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in Romans 9, which demonstrates God's sovereign choice in salvation. The doctrine of election is a core part of Reformed theology, supported by numerous scriptures. Romans 9 articulates God's sovereignty in choosing whom to save, stating that before they had done any good or evil, God's purpose according to election might stand. This underscores that God's choice is not based on foreseen merit but is solely His prerogative. The narrative of Jacob and Esau illustrates this concept further, showing that God's plan depends on His will rather than human actions. Such teachings affirm that salvation is graciously bestowed upon those chosen by God, allowing His glory to be magnified.

Q: Why is God's power important for Christians?

God's power is crucial for Christians as it enables us to fulfill our calling and endure afflictions according to His grace. God's power is foundational for the Christian faith as it undergirds our lives and missions. According to 2 Timothy 1:8-9, our calling is empowered by God's grace. This divine strength allows us to persevere in the face of trials and afflictions, reinforcing our reliance on God rather than our own abilities. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 2:14 illustrates that through God's power, we triumph in Christ and manifest the knowledge of Him. This is vital as it emphasizes that our ability to witness and serve stems from His strength operating within us, not through our natural fire or talents.

Q: What is the effectual call in Reformed theology?

The effectual call is an irresistible summons by God that brings about the salvation of those chosen by Him. In Reformed theology, the effectual call refers to God's specific initiative in the salvation of His elect. Unlike the general call, which goes out to all but is often rejected, the effectual call is successfully executed due to God's sovereign grace. Scriptures such as Acts 13:48 state that as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, indicating that this call results in a genuine and transformative faith response. It highlights God's agency in salvation, ensuring that those He calls will inevitably come to faith and be saved, thereby glorifying His name in the process.

be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God." This gospel is
according to the power of God, the gospel of the power of God.
Now watch verse 9, "...who if God who hath saved us, and God who called us," God called us with a holy calling. That's my subject, that holy
calling. not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before this world ever began. Now, there were two sons in the
womb of Rebecca. Two sons who had the same father,
who were conceived at identically the same time. Something to do
with dividing of the seeds and eggs and something I don't know
anything about. But nevertheless, same time they
were conceived. They developed, grew side by
side in that womb. And they were born. And generally,
what I know about twins is they're very much alike. I've known twins when one hurt,
the other one hurt. One got sick, the other one got
sick. They're so close. And they grew up in the same
household, walked the same path. Their mother probably dressed
them just alike. They were born seconds apart. Yet one of them walked the path
of rebellion. against God. He walked the path
of flesh. That was his life, his love,
his love. The other walked with God. The other named Jacob was called
by God Israel, a prince. God made of him, from him the
nation Israel. He bore the name Israel, the
Prince of God. How do you account for that? Well, Paul accounted for it this
way. He said, with children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of
him that worketh, but of him that The elder will serve the younger.
God even reversed the natural pattern and took the right away
from the elder and gave it to the younger. All right? There were two thieves crucified
with our Lord. Two common criminals, common
thieves, guilty of whatever crimes, sentenced probably in the courtroom
together. put in prison, went through the
same ordeal, took them out on the side of a hill and nailed
them one on one side of Jesus Christ the Lord and one on the
other side. And these men undergoing the same treatment,
the same condemnation, saw the same things, heard the same things,
were exposed to the same things, both looked over here, one one
direction, none the other, at God in human flesh, hanging with
God. They saw God. And one of them, it made him
angry. He said, if you're the Christ, if you're what you say
you are and who you say you are, why don't you save yourself and
save us too? The other one was melted and
broken, humble and rebuke the other thief. One of them was
rebuking God, the other one was rebuking the other thief, and
he said, you're getting what you deserve, and so am I. Don't
you fear God? Now, how do you account for that? All right, turn to the book of
Acts, chapter 28. Let me show you something here.
Acts, chapter 28. Now, I suppose You know, we put a lot
of emphasis upon preachers and their ability and charisma and
their talents, their gifts, their so forth and so on. And we say,
oh, if we could have just heard Spurgeon, if we could have just
heard Gill, if we could have just heard Bunyan, if we could
have just heard this one or that one or the other. Here in Acts 28, beginning with
verse 23, these people heard the greatest single preacher
who ever lived outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle
Paul. I don't suppose that he has a
rival. He was a man who saw God, who
got his gospel straight from Christ, who was taken up to the
third heaven and sent back to earth. These people sat privately
and heard him. Listen to this, verse 23, And
when they had appointed a day, there came many to him into his
lodging. Paul was under house arrest. And they came to his lodging,
and to them to whom he founded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus Christ, both out of the
law of Moses, out of the prophets, from morning till evening, the
best you could hear, in the closing days of his ministry, hair covered
white with snow, shoulders stooped, just about to leave here now,
in his last imprisonment. last chapter of the Book of Acts,
to the end of the road, and these people had this. What would you
have given? How much? Anybody got any takers?
What would you have given to have been there? Come on. What
would you have written? How big a check? Everything you
got. Just sat right there. And hear him from morning time,
early morning to late at night. All right, read on. As he took
them through the whole Scripture, Verse 24, "...and some believed
the things which were spoken, and some believed not." And when their greed not among
themselves, they started arguing among themselves again. They departed after Paul had
spoken one word. Well, spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet. He told them this before they
left. He said, Isaiah talked about you fellows, saying, Go
unto this people and say, Hearing you shall hear and shall not
understand, seeing you shall see and not perceive. For the
heart of this people is waxed and gross, their ears are dull
of hearing, their have they closed, lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts,
and should be converted, and I should heal them." Hardened. How do you account for that?
And today, when the Word of God is preached in the fire of the
Holy Spirit, today, we don't have any Apostle Pauls, I realize
that, but we're reading what he wrote, we're preaching what
he preached. And today the Word of God is preached, and this
is the case now. Some believe, and some do not
believe. How do you account for it? Well, turn to 2 Corinthians 2. Paul talks about this again in
2 Corinthians chapter 2, this preaching of the gospel. Sometimes we have the impression
that a man stands here and preaches.
He's prepared, he's prayed, and he's felt the will of God, he
preaches the gospel of God in the power of the Spirit. And
seemingly to our vision and understanding, nothing happens. But something
always does happen. according to this Scripture.
Now look at it, 2 Corinthians 2, 14. Now, thanks be unto God,
which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savor. Now, that word savor is fragrance,
odor, smell of fragrance. It's like opening a box of sweet
spices or perfume. You open it up and the room is
filled with the fragrance, with the savor, with the odor. And
people respond to that odor different ways. Someone smells it and smiles. Somebody else smells it like
coughing, you know, and sneezing and wheezing and blowing. Can't
stand that. Same fragrance. And Paul says here, We make manifest,
open the alabaster box, open the tree, open the scripture
of God's sovereignty and grace and election and redemption and
gospel. And it's the savor of his knowledge
by us in every place, for we are under God, an instrument
of God, a servant of God, a messenger of God, a sweet a sweet smell,
a sweet odor of Christ in them that are saved. But we are also a savor, a fragrance,
a smell in them that perish. To them, we're the savor of death
unto death. What is it they don't like about
that odor? It's their own death. It's their
condition. It's their nature. They can't
stand it. But we're the saver to the other,
the saver of life unto life. What is it that appeals to you
about Christ? It's Christ in you. It's the life of Christ in you.
Your nature, spiritual nature, is attracted to that sweet odor. But that's, and who's sufficient
for these things? Certainly no man is, but he tells
us Down here in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5, where our sufficiency
comes from. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5, right
down further. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God, who hath made us, who also hath made us able ministers
of the new covenant. Not of the letter, not of the
law, but of the Spirit. The letter killeth. The law gives
life. How do you account for this?
Well, I'll tell you. There's really two calls. There's
two calls. This is what the old-timers used
to talk about. There's a general call. There's a general call, which
all men, to some extent, participate in. A general call. Can I show
you some of it? Yeah? Let's look at Romans 1.
This is a general column. Romans chapter 1. And if you'll
look there with me just a moment. Romans chapter 1. It says in
verse 18 of Romans 1. In Romans 1.18, For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. and
unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God is manifest to them, for
God hath showed it to them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
with the things that are even his eternal power and Godhead,
so they're without excuse, because that when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God. In other words, the creation declares the power of God, the
wisdom of God. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. That's what David said. But instead
of acknowledging God, They talk about evolution and things like
that. They worship the creature rather
than the Creator, and God's going to hold them responsible. That's
a general call, you know, that men see the things that are made,
the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. All right, look at Romans 2. Here's another way
that men have a revelation of God and a call. Romans 2, verse
14. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law," now, you know what that's saying. The Gentiles
are under the law of God, but they don't have the tables of
stone. The Philistines didn't have the law. The Babylonians
didn't have the law. The Egyptians didn't have the
law. These three people didn't have the law. Israel did, the
Ten Commandments and the Levitical law. But yet, they do by nature,
the things contained in the law. In their conscience, they know
it's wrong to do certain things. It's wrong to take your sword
and slay a friend, or a person. They knew that. It's wrong to
steal what belongs to another. That's what he said. These, having
not the law, are law unto themselves, verse 15, which show the work
of the law written in their hearts. their conscience also bearing
witness in their thoughts the meanwhile, excusing or else accusing
one another in that day when God shall judge the secrets of
men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." In other words,
there's a conscience that every man has. And then the gospel
is preached. The gospel was preached to Israel, but it didn't profit
them, not being mixed with faith and them that heard it. And let
me, if you want to turn to the book of Amos in the Old Testament,
let me read you something here. You know, I keep seeing on television,
I keep hearing people talk about it, this Hurricane Andrew. The devastation, the suffering,
the crippling effect, the widespread destruction and all When Andrew
came across South Florida and all of this devastation, and
I read about this flood that swept down through the Midwest. And people I see on television,
they're suffering and they're agonizing. We've lost everything.
We've just lost everything. They stand there weeping. We've
lost everything. But I don't read of anybody turning
to God. Have you read anything about
that? I don't read where anybody's
any great revivals going on in those places? Do you read anything
like that? They're just as arrogant and
just as wicked and just as foul-mouthed as they ever were. And that's
what God says. Judgment, providence, acts of
God, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and all these things do not bring
men to God. They ought to, but they don't.
Now, let me show you that in Amos chapter 4, verse 6. God speaking to Israel, Amos
4, verse 6, I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all
your cities, water, bread in all your places, and yet have
you not returned them to me, saith the Lord? It hasn't moved
you. And also I've withholding the
rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest.
Do you know what that would do to a crop? Stop the rain now. Three months before the harvest.
Ain't no crop. That's what it does. And I caused
it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another
city. One piece was rained upon the
other, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. And two
or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, but
they were not satisfied. Yet, you've not returned unto
me. You haven't repented and called
on God. I've smitten you with blasting
and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig
trees and your olive trees increased and the pommel worm devoured
them, yet you've not returned them again. Tragedy will strike our home,
and yet they don't turn to God. I've sent among you pestilence
after the banner of Egypt. Your young men I've slain with
a sword. I've taken away your horses.
I've made the stink of your camps to come up into your nostrils,
and yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord." None
of these judgments make any impact upon you. I've overthrown some of you as
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And you were, you were like a
firebrand picked out of the burning. who was in a certain place that
caught fire, and nearly everybody around him burned to death, and
he walked out. It never made one impact on him
at all. He's just as profane as he ever
was, just as godless as he ever was. He was a firebrand, literally,
plucked out of the brim, just almost lifted out. See, so you saw that during the
war. You saw fellows miraculously, miraculously walk out of some
place and everybody else lay on their backs. Yet you didn't
return to them. It didn't make any impact on
you at all. And that's this hard, dead, natural
heart. There's a call of nature. There's
a call of conscience. Don't leave that. Stay there
a minute. There's a call of the preaching of the gospel. There's God's judgments fall
all around us. All right? Therefore, verse 12,
all right, you won't be moved. I shall not be moved. It works
both ways. Therefore, thus will I do unto
you, O Israel, and because I'll do it unto you, you prepare to
meet your God. You know, those signs along the
highway used to be, I haven't seen them in years, but they
used to be along the highway, prepare to meet God. Anybody
here remember those signs, prepare to meet God? That's very appropriate. Nature hasn't impressed you,
your conscience hasn't impressed you, the gospel hasn't impressed
you, and the providence of God hasn't impressed you, so just
get ready to meet him in person. All right, turn to Proverbs 1. Let me show you something over
here. Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1. It says here in Proverbs 1.24, God said, because I have called
and you refused. I stretched out my hand and no
man regarded. You said it not on my counsel,
you would not of my reproach. You wouldn't listen to the preachers?
You wouldn't listen to them? All right, verse 26, I also will
laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, and distress, anguish come upon you in that day of
death. This shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of
my reproof They despise my recruits, therefore shall they eat the
fruit of their own way. That's what they chose. That's
what they wanted. They're going to be filled with
their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso
hearkeneth unto me, listens, hears, shall dwell safely. they shall be quiet from the
purity." Well, what made the difference? Well, my friends, in my text tonight, it says,
he saved us, he called us with another calling, and not just
a call of nature, because men see that and despise God. It's
not just a call of conscience. because people fight that all
day, every day. It's not just the words of a
preacher, because I think sometimes I, you hear me all the time,
feel like you need to hear somebody, another voice, but changing the
voice won't change the heart. It won't do it. And judgments. There is a special So he saved
us and he called us with a holy call. Now, let's look at some
scripture. There is a call that gets the
job done. I call it the effectual call.
Turn to Psalm 110. Let me show you, use your Bible
here for a moment, let me show you some scripture. Use the Word. Let's look at Psalm 110. And this is that great psalm
that's quoted over and over and over and over and over again
in the New Testament, especially in Hebrews, Psalm 110, verse
3. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. It's a powerful call. It's the
call of God. That scripture I read this morning
said But we're bound to give thanks always for you brethren,
the beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. For unto this end he called you by our gospel. He called you. It came to John
10. Our Lord talking about his sheep
here. John chapter 10. Verse 14, listen
to this, I'm the good shepherd, I know
my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice. There'll be one fold,
one shepherd. If you ever read that verse in
the book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 48, it said, Paul preached. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. And as many as were ordained
to life, believed. That's an effectual call. As
many as were ordained to life, believed. for whom he foreknew,
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, and
whom he predestinated he called, and whom he called he justified."
I want you to turn to another scripture, Genesis 24. You remember
I preached from this not so awful long ago, Genesis 24, when Abraham
sent, he called his servant in and he said, must have a bride. But my son
Isaac is not going to take a bride from among the heathen people
where I dwell. I want you, this servant, old
Abraham's second in years now, and he said, I want you to go
to my people, my country, and get a bride for my son. And the servant said to him,
he said, look at verse 4 of Genesis 24, Abraham said, Thou shalt
go unto my country, to my kindred, and take a wife for my son. And
the servant said, Perventure, the woman will not be willing
to follow me to this land. Here I am, I'm not Isaac, I'm
just talking for him. Isaac's not going, I'm going,
representing him. He's the young one, I'm the old
one. He's the rich one, I'm the poor one. He's the prince, and
I'm the servant. And you're sending me down here
to a country to see a woman I've never known, never met, and I'm
to tell her that she's to come back with me and marry a man
whom she doesn't know and has never seen? What if she's not
willing to do that? Listen to Abraham. Verse 6. Abraham said to the servant,
Beware thou that thou bring not my son hither again. The Lord
God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from
the land of my kindred, which spake unto me, that sware unto
me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land, he will send
his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son
from him." You won't be alone. You're not going alone. You know, I stand up here and
talk about Christ Jesus, His love and grace and mercy and
salvation and blood and righteousness. And you know, people, every once
in a while somebody believes me. I believe. And I say, will you come? I will.
Will you look to Him? I will. Will you receive Him? I will. Will you believe on Him?
I will. Not because what you said. But
we've heard him, I say, from the Word. That's right. All right, let me give you, in
just a few moments, several things about this call.
And I'll just quote the Scripture. I won't ask you to turn to it.
But this divine call, this holy calling, this effectual call,
first, it's according to his purpose. We're called according
to his purpose. That's what Scripture says. It
originated with him. It's his call. Secondly, it's
a call by his grace. You don't deserve it. Paul said,
God who separated me from my mother's womb called me by his
grace. It's all grace from beginning
to end. He didn't see anything in us that made him call us. Mike, with all your talent, He
didn't need them, He gave them to you. God's not going to take
anybody's natural talent and use it because in that way you'd
get the glory. He gives you whatever you have. Thirdly, it's a call without
change. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. He's not going to change. I am
the Lord, I change not. He said, I'll never leave them,
they'll never leave me. If he calls you, you're called. Fourthly, it's a high and heavenly
calling. It's not just a call to an altar,
or to a profession, or to a church fellowship, it's a call to sonship,
adoption. We're called to be what? Sons
of God. We're called to be sons of God.
It's a high and heavenly calling, Paul said in Hebrews. Fifthly,
it's a call to fellowship with Christ. It's not merely the fellowship
of believers, which is so precious, but it's called into a union
with Jesus Christ. We're joint heirs with Christ. We're one with him. Our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son. That's 1 Corinthians 1, 9, called
into fellowship with Christ. Sixthly, it's a call to holiness
of life. It's a call to holiness of life. We're not called to uncleanness,
either uncleanness in doctrine or conduct or conversation, but
to holiness of life. No believer ever excuses, condones,
or justifies his infirmities. Find a man who justifies his
weaknesses or infirmities of sin, and you find a man who doesn't
know, who hasn't been caught. He never justifies. Like David,
he says, my sins are ever before me. Never justifies. In the seventh place, it's a
call to liberty. God has called us to liberty,
not bondage, but liberty. He has freed us from the curse
of the law, freed us from the penalty of the law, freed us
from the bondage of the law, freed us from days and ceremonies
and feasts and all the circumcision, because all these things are
fulfilled in Him. He hasn't freed us from the royal
law, which is love. But we don't want any freedom
from that. And then he has called us to peace, called us to peace,
peace with God, peace within, peace of God, peace with others. Then turn to 1 Peter 5, and I'll
close with this. 1 Peter chapter 5. Oh, what a divine call, what
a heavenly call, what a holy calling, what a blessed call,
what a gracious call. He's called us. First Peter chapter 5, I want
you to look at this. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
you've suffered a while, he'll make you perfect, establish you,
strengthen you, settle you, to him be the glory and dominion
forever and ever. He called us to glory. Oh, Henry VIII, let me give you
an illustration here and it may help you to understand some things.
Help me a little bit to understand something that I've struggled
with and had a problem with and even talked with others about
it. Henry VIII was a ruthless man. You know that from history, and
if you ever visited over there and among and observed some of
his shenanigans and background. We visited his home where he
had raised his children, Mary and Elizabeth and Charles, who
became king. All three of them, but if one
became king, the women became queens. But he was a ruthless
man. He was a man who beheaded his
own wife. Cut her head off. And put others
in prison. He may have killed more than
one. I only had five or six. He was a religious man. Deeply
religious. But deeply ruthless, cruel, mean. Didn't know God. He didn't know
God. He wasn't a man of God by any
stretch of the imagination. And yet, God used that ruthless,
reckless, religious reprobate to deliver England from Catholicism. He did it single-handedly. In
other words, this is the way it came. England was, John Newton's
church was a Catholic church. It was built in 1325, where Newton
preached, was a Catholic church. until Henry came along. He changed
it to a Protestant church. He changed all of England. He
wanted to marry this woman, and the Pope said he couldn't, and
Henry said, well, I'll just kick all of you out of England. And
he kicked every Catholic priest out of England. He sent them
all packing, turned all the churches into a Church of England, and
had the preachers draw up the Thirty-Nine Articles, which is
one of the most beautiful, crazing catechisms ever written, with
two or three exceptions. Thirty-nine articles. Grace,
grace, grace. Henry was a man who promoted
the preaching of sovereignty and election and particular redemption
and effectual call and perseverance. And he became the head of the
church himself. That's right. The Church of England,
Episcopal Church, back then. He kicked all the Catholics out
of it, shut down every Catholic church, burnt lots of them to
the ground, and moved Catholics. God used him to strip that country
of Catholicism and make it the place where he raised up the
Knoxes and Whitefields and Gills and Bunions. You'd never heard
of those men, hadn't been to Henry VIII. And yet, he didn't
know God. And so you remember this, God
will use whom he will. He'll use an unsaved man to accomplish
his purpose. That's right. To build a building
or to uproot a situation. He told Pharaoh, he said, I raised
you up to show my power. A man doesn't have to be saved
for God to get glory from him. He'll get glory from everybody.
Even the wrath of man will praise the Lord. But I've gone all the
way around the world to tell you this story, but that is something
for us to remember. God restrains wrath. He destroys
some, the rest of it he restrains. He channels it. He'll use it
for his glory. Henry, like I said, the eighth,
was a very religious man. Very, very religious. He had
services in the court every Lord's Day. He had his personal chaplains.
Ruthless, mean and crude. He had his personal chaplains.
And one of them was Hugh Latimer, who later was martyred because
of his faith. But Hugh Latimer was assigned
to preach one Sunday morning. before Henry VIII and his court,
his lords and ladies and concubines and so forth. Well, Hugh Latimer
got up, and if you have your Bible there, turn to Hebrews
13. This was his text. In Hebrews 13, verse 4, this
is the text chosen by Hugh Latimer that Sunday morning before Henry
VIII, who had already killed one wife and put others in prison,
was married to another, and did all these things I told you about.
And Hugh Latimer got up and he just announced this text. He
said, My text this morning is Hebrews 13, 4. Marriage is honorable
and all, and to be it undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers,
God of judge. And he proceeded to preach on
that. Well, you can imagine how quiet it was in there during
that sermon. And Henry sat and listened to
it. And Hugh Latimer went to his
quarters, and it wasn't long before there was a knock on the
door. And he opened the door and admitted one of the king's
messengers. And he said, Mr. Latimer, he said, the king has
sent me to tell you that you'll be preaching again next Sunday. He figures you might want to
adjust some of the things you said today. And you have the opportunity
to preach next Sunday, and keep this in mind. The King said for
me to remind you, do you not know before whom you stand? You
stand before Henry the Eighth, King of all England, who has
the power over you to allow you to live or to die. And when you
preach next Sunday, you bear that in mind. Well, next Sunday
morning, Mr. Latimer stood again to preach,
Hugh Latimer. And he said, I've been given
leave of the king to preach again this Sunday morning. And I've
been reminded by his majesty before whom I stand, Henry VIII,
king of all England, who has power over me to allow me to
live or die. But I would remind His Majesty,
before whom I stand, is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
has all authority in heaven and earth and the power to take me
to glory or cast me into hell. So my message this morning will
be taken again from Hebrews 13 forward. Marriage is honorable.
in all, and the beard undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers
God will still judge." Well, it cost him. It cost him dearly. No, it didn't cost him anything.
It did here, but not there. So he has called us to eternal
glory, and we need not fear what man should do. It's a holy, high,
and heavenly calling. It's the calling of our Lord.
All right, I hope that's a blessing to you, and I hope God will use
it for His glory.

That Holy Calling

What does the Bible say about God's holy calling?

How do we know election is true?

Why is God's power important for Christians?

What is the effectual call in Reformed theology?

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That Holy Calling

What does the Bible say about God's holy calling?

How do we know election is true?

Why is God's power important for Christians?

What is the effectual call in Reformed theology?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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