The Call of Grace

Now, the old writers used to talk about a general
and effectual call. They wrote complicated papers
and they preached lengthy sermons on the general call which comes
to all men in some form, and at some time and the effectual
call which comes in the power of the Holy Spirit to God's elect. Now it's clear from the Scriptures.
I want you to turn first of all to the book of Proverbs. Now
it's clear from the Scripture that God Almighty does in many
ways make Himself known to the sons of Adam. God does in many
ways, Proverbs chapter one, God does in many ways make himself
known to the sons of Adam. There's a way that God enlightens. There's a way that God illuminates.
And just how much light a man can have and still not know God
is beyond our understanding. Hebrews chapter six. tells us
just how far people can go, they can taste the good word of God,
powers of the world to come, be enlightened, and still not
know Christ. But there are ways that God makes
himself known to the sons of Adam, and I say to all the sons
of Adam. He says in Proverbs 1, verse
24, Because I have called, and you refuse. I have stretched
out my hand, and no man regarded. You said, Ignore all my counsel,
and would none of my reproof." Now that scripture tells us that
God does call men, and they refuse to come. God does call. God does in some way make Himself
known to the sons of Adam, and they refuse His call, and they
refuse His offer. and they refuse his inviting
hand. He said, I stretched out my hand.
Just like you walk up to an enemy and you put out your hand, he
won't shake it. I put out my hand, God said, and you won't
take it. You won't take it. So that's clear from that scripture,
that God does call the sons of Adam. He calls those who refuse. He stretches out his hand to
those who will not take it. He offers himself in some way,
in some measure, and men will not regard it." Now, let's see
if we can find out some of the ways that God calls the sons
of Adam. Let's find out some of the ways
that He makes Himself known, that they know that there is
a God, that He is God, and that there can be a relationship between
them and Him. Let's see. First of all, in the
book of Romans, in chapter 1, we know that God makes Himself
known by His power by his wisdom in creation in Romans chapter
1 verse 19. Now we know David said the heavens
declare the glory of God. You can stand out under God's
heavens and see the stars and the moon, the perfect order of
the universe, the sun, the clouds, the rain, the snow. He makes
every little snowflake, not two of them alike. He sends every
raindrop God may be known by the things that are made. So
he leaves men without excuse. Look at Romans 1 verse 19. It says, Because that which may
be known of God is manifest in them, or to them, for God hath
showed it unto them. You say, how? For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. They're without excuse. God makes
Himself known to the sons of Adam in creation. They knew,
no, there's a God. When they knew there was a God,
they glorified Him not as God. Look at verse 21. because that
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, they were not
thankful, they became vain in their imagination, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Verse 23, And they changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man, birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore
God gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own
hearts, because it dishonored their own bodies. between themselves. So God makes himself known by
the things that are made. Now then, another way, turn to
Romans 2, in which God does reveal himself to the sons of Adam.
I'm talking about even to the heathen in Africa, Russia, China,
Mexico, South America, in the islands of the Pacific. Men know
there's a God. God does not leave himself without
a witness. God is understood by the things
that are made. And then secondly, in Romans
2 verse 14, when the Gentiles, that's talking about the heathen.
Back here the Jews were the religious people, the Gentiles were the
heathen. For when the heathen, which have not the law, they
have not the Ten Commandments, they have not the Mosaic law,
but they do by nature the things contained in the law. In other
words, you can go to a tribe in the heart of Africa who'd
never heard the gospel, never seen the Ten Commandments, and
they know in here somewhere by conscience or an inward light
that lighteth men, they know it's wrong to steal, they know
it's wrong to kill, they know it's wrong to do these things,
to lie. And God says these having not
the law are law unto themselves. They show the law, it shows the
work of the law written in their hearts. Who wrote it there? God wrote it there. The law written
in their hearts. Their conscience also bearing
witness and their thoughts. The meanwhile accusing or else
excusing one another. God makes himself known by conscience. God does reveal himself by conscience. And then, over here in the book
of Amos, in the little book of Amos, God tells us that he makes
himself known, and there is a way in which he calls men by providence,
by providential dealings. Now, in the book of Amos, chapter
4, we are familiar with verse 12. Verse 12 says, prepare to
meet thy God. It used to be on the highways
there were some crosses, and on those cement crosses were
the words, prepare to meet thy God. You're all familiar with
that scripture, but do you know, do you know what God said before
he said that? Well, now, let's look at it.
In Amos 4, verse 6, he says, I, and I also have given you
cleanness of teeth. That is, you don't have enough
to eat of famine. in all your cities, and want
of bread, and all your places, yet have you not returned unto
me, saith the Lord." That didn't break you. That didn't bring
you down. I sent famine, I sent pestilence,
I sent hunger, but that didn't humble you. That didn't bring
you down. That didn't make you cry for mercy. You didn't return
to me. Verse 7, I have withholding the
rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest.
And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to
rain upon another city. One peace was rained upon, the
peace whereupon it rained not withered. Two or three cities
wandered unto one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied
yet. Have ye not returned unto me,
saith the Lord?" That didn't break him. You know, I've seen
preachers at funerals. Somebody will die, and they'll
get around the casket, and they'll get a confession of faith out
of all the kids. They'll get a profession of faith
out of the husband, the wife died, they'll get, you want to
meet your wife in heaven, yeah I want to meet my wife in heaven,
we'll shake my hand, you know, and he'll come to church for
a while and then he'll drift away. I have not found that the
acts of judgment and the acts of providence, I've not found
it very often to be used of God to bring sinners to conviction
of sin and faith in Christ. That's what he's saying here.
I've done these things. Look at verse 9. I've smitten you
with blastings and mildew, and your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm
devoured them, yet you didn't return to me. Verse 11, I've
overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were plucked, you were as a firebrand plucked out of
the burning, yet you haven't returned to me. None of these
providential dealings. They don't break men. I've known men and women to go
through great sickness and great trouble and great sorrow. And
for a while it had some effect on them, for a little while.
They remembered it, but they didn't remember it very long.
It didn't stay with them very long. They went back their own
ways. They forgot God's grace. They
forgot God's mercy in these times of trouble. When God said, I
sent this trouble upon you, I sent this trouble, and yet you didn't
return to me. All right, verse 12, he says,
you get ready to meet God. You get ready to meet God. God says, I call and you refuse.
I stretch out my hand and you won't take it. I've offered my
fellowship to you, and you refused it. You've gone your own way.
I've called you in creation. I've shown you my power and my
wisdom and my Godhead, but you didn't fall down. He said, I've
put a conscience in here, and the conscience says you're wrong,
you're wrong, you're wrong, but you go on being wrong. You don't
pay any attention to that voice that speaks in here that says
you're going the wrong way. You're going the wrong way. You
don't pay attention to it. And then God says, so I dealt
with you firmly. I dealt with you in famine. I
dealt with you in hunger. I dealt with you in slaying your
young men with a sword. I've overthrown you as I overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah. And you're just like a firebrand
plucked out of the burning. But it didn't break you. It didn't
bring you down. You didn't return to me. Therefore,
you get ready to meet God. You get ready. to meet God. There's another way that God
calls men. Turn to Hebrews chapter four.
Hebrews the fourth chapter, verse two. The Gospels preached. There's some places where the
Gospels preached, and men hear the Gospel. They hear the Gospel. They hear it at least with these
ears. They see it at least with these eyes. It can't be denied
The gospel is Christ, the gospel is the blood, the gospel is the
cross. In Hebrews 4 verse 2, under us
was the gospel preached as well as under them. Talking about
Israel and the wilderness. But the word preached didn't
profit them, didn't do them any good. Why didn't it do them any
good? Because it was not mixed with
faith in them that heard it. The gospel didn't find any faith.
Or they heard it. There was enough gospel in that
movie on television last night, the greatest story ever told.
There was enough gospel in that to save this whole world. But
they look at it, isn't that a fine performance? Yeah, that's real
good. Put it close to the Scripture. Well, there's a point there it
wasn't. Get straight away from the Scripture. But it never gets
down here. It just circulates up here. Up here. And it never
gets down here. The whole United States saw Christ
on the cross last night. and saw him buried and saw him
rise again on their television screen. But it won't be mixed
with faith. It won't be mixed with a man falling on his face
and saying, Lord God, let thy blood be propitiation for me
on the mercy seat. God calls me. So it's clear from
the Scripture. Let the case rest. God does call
me. He's a merciful God. Plenteous
in mercy and slow to wrath. But he says, their foot will
slide in due time. I make myself known to them,
I stretched out my hand. Turn back to Proverbs 1. Proverbs
1. Now this is the tragic thing
here. God says, I called you. I stretched
out my hand, and no man regarded. I called you by creation. I called
you by providence. I called you by conscience. You
heard the gospel, all right. Verse 26, I will laugh. I will laugh at your calamity. Their foot will slide in due
time. God says the cup of wrath is going to be filled up someday,
and it's going to teeter there on the brink and then fall over.
And God says when it does, I'll mock when your fear cometh. When
your fear cometh as desolation, your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh
upon you, then Shall they call on me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me, but they
shall not find me. Why? They hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord. They wouldn't have any
of my counsel. They despised my reproof. Therefore, they're going to eat
the fruit of their own weight. They're going to eat the fruit
of their own weight. All right, I'll find another call in this
book. That's what we call, that's what
these old timers called a general call. A general call. It goes
out from God to all the sons of Adam. There is no son of Adam
that does not know something about the Godhead through creation,
through conscience, through providence, and many through the preaching
of the gospel. But throughout the word of God
we encounter an effectual call. An effectual call. A powerful
divine call that produces a response. For example, Christ walks by
the seat of customs where a man is collecting taxes, and he's
sitting there, and Christ says to that man, Matthew, follow
me. And the scripture said, and he
arose and left all and followed him. Our Lord walked under a
tree one day. There were There were so many
people there that this fellow Zacchaeus had to climb up a tree
in order to see Christ. And our Lord walked under that
tree with that multitude around Him, and He looked up in that
tree, and He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for
I must abide at your house today. Salvation has come to this house,
for He also is the Son of Abraham. Our Lord Jesus Christ was walking
by the Sea of Galilee, and there were two men there fishing with
their father. And our Lord said not to the
father, and not to the other fishermen, but to these two men,
James and John, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. And then here in our text, Galatians
chapter 1, listen to this. Here is a religious man. He said,
a persecutor of the church. a persecutor, that is, one who
despised the name of Christ, one who abhorred the way of the
cross, one to whom the cross did not fit at all into his plans. And yet on this road to Damascus
he said, It pleased God, verse 15 of Galatians 1, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me. Saul? Why persecutest thou me? And from the ground he lifted
sightless eyes into that burning vision from heaven, that light
from heaven, and he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I'm
Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Lord, what will
you have me do? That, my friend, is an effectual
call. That's not a call of nature that
men look out and admire and turn away from it. That's not a call
of conscience that men say, well, one more time, two more times,
three more times, four more times, you know. I'll just ignore this
little voice, this little inner whispering, and it can't be all
that bad anyway, you know. I'll straighten this matter out
some day. No, it's not like that. It's not a call of providence
where a fellow's stricken on a bed of afflictions, that, Lord,
if you'll let me up, I'll serve you always. I'll do you well,
you liar. Your feet hit the floor to walk
in paths of rebellion. No, this is not that kind of
call at all. This is not that call that a fellow sits and listens
to a preacher and goes out and says, wasn't that a nice sermon.
I sure enjoyed your talk. You did a good job. You preached
what I agreed with. That was good. I really liked
it. I couldn't find any fault with it. No, sir, this is an
effectual call. An effectual. What will you have me do? Samuel? Hear my Lord. Hear my Lord. That's the call of grace. Look
at 1 Thessalonians. Let me show you something here.
Have you ever, have you been made a recipient of an effectual
call? Have you been made a recipient
of this divine call of grace? Paul said, he called me by his
grace. And he says here in 1 Thessalonians
1 verse 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not to you
in word only, in vision only, in providence only, in conscience
only, in creation only. It came to you in power. Power. Divine power! Life-giving power. Convicting power. Holy Spirit
power. That's how it came. Our gospel
came to you in power. It separated you. It divided
you apart from everybody else. It operated on you. It stripped
you. It broke you. It humbled you.
It singled you out. It came in power. It came in
the Holy Ghost. It came in much assurance. That's an effectual call. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
12. Now, to illustrate this effectual
call, I think this is the best place to go in the Word of God.
Genesis chapter 12. You see what I'm talking about,
don't you? You see what I'm talking about? There is a general call. Those old boys were right. Anybody
that knows anything about the Bible, who's done any studying
at all, any of these old writers, all of them talk about a general
call. There is a sense, there is a
way in which God makes himself known to all the sons of Adam,
to a certain extent, some to a greater degree than others.
Some men have little knowledge, just the knowledge of nature
and conscience. Some men have some knowledge of providence
and God dealing with them. Some men have heard a whole lot
of gospel. Some men have walked isles and
been baptized and joined churches and believed doctrine and switched
from Arminianism to Calvinism and from Calvinism to Antinomianism
and from Antinomianism to Legalism and from Legalism to some other
kind of ism and still don't know Christ. But this call I'm talking about
now, this effectual call, that one Matthew received, made him
leave everything and follow Christ. That one Saul received on the
road to Damascus. That one Zacchaeus got, brought
him down out of that tree. That call that Abraham, listen
to it, now verse 12, verse 1 of Genesis 12, Now the Lord had
said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I'll
show thee, and I'll make of thee a great nation, and I'll bless
thee, and I'll make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing."
Now there are five things about this call, and I want you to
stay with me. And I say that every person who is a recipient
of this divine call, this call of grace, these five things are
true. The first one is, it was a sovereign
call. It was a sovereign call. Paul
said, he called me by his grace. His grace. Now, Brethren, at
this time in Genesis 12, I want you to listen to this. Maybe
you never heard this before, but it's true. I'm going to show
it to you. At this time, the whole world was bathed in heathenism. in idol worship. Men were not
worshipping God, they were worshipping images and idols and creeping
things and four-footed beasts. Even Abraham's family. That's right. Abraham's father,
Terah, worshipped idols. I'll show you that. Turn to Joshua
24. I'll show you that and you mark it in your Bible. In Joshua
24, when this call came to Abraham, Down there in Ur of the Chaldees,
he was living with his father. They all lived in one community,
and they were all idol-worshippers. In Joshua, chapter 24, verse
2. Now listen. And Joshua said to
the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood in old times, even Terah, the
father of Abraham and the father of Nacor, that was Lot's daddy,
and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham
from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan, multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. When
I found your father Abraham, he was in an idol-worshiping,
heathen household. That's what God said. I called
him sovereignly. Turn to Isaiah 51. Here's a verse
of scripture here about Abraham before God called him. Isaiah
51, verse 1 and 2. Now listen to it. This call,
this effectual call, I hope you've heard it, or I hope you hear
it. In Isaiah 51, verse 1, God says, Hearken to me, ye that
follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, Look unto
the rock which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit which
you are digged. Look to Abraham your father,
and say with it bear you, I called him alone." Abraham didn't volunteer
for this journey, God called him. Abraham didn't volunteer
for this mission. The scripture says, a Syrian
ready to perish was your father. a Syrian ready to perish. But God in His sovereignty, God
in His purpose, God in His divine plan, came down there and urged
the Chaldees among those heathen, idol-worshipping, base people,
and called this man Abraham and said, Abraham, get thee out,
and the land I'll show thee is a sovereign And all these effectual
calls are on purpose. Turn to Romans 8. Let me show
you that. They're not accidents. They're not accidents. They're
on purpose. Any man who receives a call of grace, God sends it
on purpose. In Romans 8, verse 28, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called. You finish it according to His
purpose. Whose purpose? His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren, and whom He did
predestinate, them He what? Called. He called. And whom he called, he justified. Effectual call always follows
eternal purpose. Always. God never does anything
by accident. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Abraham was God's man. Matthew
was God's man. James and John were God's men. Zacchaeus was God's man. Saul
of Tarsus. He separated me from my mother's
womb. But it wasn't until he was forty
years old that God called him by his grace. God said, Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and I called thee. I called thee. We didn't choose God, he chose
us. He said that to his disciples.
We didn't love God, He loved us. We didn't call Him, He called
us. Turn with me to Genesis 6. Now
listen to this, Genesis 6. These are the great men of the
Bible. In Genesis 6, verse 7, the Lord
said, I'm going to destroy man whom I created from the face
of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing, fowl of the
air. Well, you can repeat that right now. God's going to do
the same thing to this world. He's going to burn it. He drowned
it the first time. He's going to burn it the second
time. Watch verse 8. But! Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. That's what I want. God's going
to destroy this world. He said He's going to burn it.
The heavens and the earth shall pass away, shall melt with a
fervent heat. But! Somebody, somewhere, is
going to find grace in God's eye. But Noah found grace. Never would I feel the guilt
of sin, nor the blessings of Jesus' love, unless my worthless
name had been enrolled by God in His book above. There would
have been never would have been warned, never would have been
convicted, would have gone to hell with the religion of natural
men if God had not in his sovereign pleasure been pleased to call
me. Now that's so. All right, second
thing about this call. Second thing. First of all, it
was a sovereign call. It was a sovereign call. And
then secondly, this call of Abraham was a divine call. Who called
him? Who called him? God called him. God called him. And the Lord
said, Abraham. The Lord said, Abraham. It was a divine call. Paul said,
God who separated me from my mother's womb, he called me. He called me. It wasn't an angel
that called Abraham, it was God that called. It wasn't a prophet
who called Abraham, it was God who called him. Turn with me
to the book of Acts. I want you to look at this, Acts
chapter 7. This is Stephen's dying testimony. This is the servant of God, the
deacon in the church that was being stoned, and this is his
dying testimony. And listen to what he says about
Abraham in Acts 7 verse 2. Now listen to it. And he said,
Men and brethren, fathers hearken. The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt
in Charon. And God said to him, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into a
land that I shall show you. God called him. And I say that
this effectual call whereby a man is convinced of sin and brought
to love Christ, I don't mean to profess Christ or to claim
Christ. I mean to love Christ. That's
an effectual word. Now, God uses means, it's true. His ministers preach, His law
strips, His word warns, His providence takes us to hear the gospel.
But it's the Divine Spirit that gives life. It's God who calls
by His Spirit. Listen to the Word of God. It
says in John 1, "...to as many as received Him, to them gave
He the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God." Born of
God. Our Lord said, The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and ye hear the sound thereof, and cannot
tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth. Even so are those who
are born of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit quickeneth, listen,
whom he will. Isn't that what the Bible says? Turn to Matthew 16. This is revealed
right here in the 16th chapter of Matthew. And this also was
in that greatest story ever told last night. They didn't word
it exactly right, but it was in there. They were sitting around
there and the Lord Jesus said, Matthew 16, He said in verse
15, Whom do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the
Lord Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and
blood did not reveal that to you, but, watch it, my Father
revealed that to you. Brethren, beloved, knowing your
election of God, our gospel didn't come to you in the words of a
man only, the arguments of a man, the persuasion of a soul winner,
the appeals of an evangelist. Our gospel came to you in power,
in the Holy Ghost. Have you heard the voice of God?
Once you hear His voice calling, look at 1 Corinthians 1. Here's
another illustration. In 1 Corinthians 1, it says in
verse Chapter 2, I beg your pardon, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. It is written, I have not seen,
ear hath not heard, that's the natural eye, the natural ear
of natural man, neither hath it entered the heart of man the
things that God has prepared for them that love him, but God
hath revealed them unto us. Who did? God did. Now brethren,
I preach this gospel, but if my voice is the only voice you
hear, It won't do you any good. If my voice is there, it may
make you religious, it may make you a Baptist, it may make you
a Calvinist, it may make you religious, but it won't save
your soul. You've got to hear Him who speaks
from heaven in power, in power. Him who humbles you and strips
you and breaks you and brings you down. You've got to hear
Him, do business with Him. But God has revealed them unto
us by His Spirit! By His Spirit. The evangelists
and all these Hollywood promoting preachers today, getting folks
down the aisle, and they're getting them to make decisions, they're
getting them to agree to go to heaven when they die. But only
the Holy Spirit can make a man a new creature. That's right. I hope you don't miss that. I
hope you don't miss that. While thou art calling, O call
me. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
don't pass me by. I don't want to just hear but
a mayhem call. I don't want to just hear my
mama say, son, don't you want to be a Christian. Mama can't
speak with convicting power. Mama can't give me a new nature
and a new heart and make me love God. Mama can't give me eyes
that see beyond the vanities of life and see that city Abraham
knew existed. I want to hear the Holy Spirit
call. The Holy Spirit give me a life
that's willing to bear up under all the trials and troubles and
sorrows that God sends my way, and come out overcoming victorious. It's a divine call. That's what
it is, and I challenge you, brother. I challenge you. It's a divine
call. He called me, Paul says. Oh,
Paul had heard Gamaliel, Paul had heard all of the Fathers,
Paul had read the Scriptures, but Paul never heard from God
till on the Damascus Road. And when he heard from God, God
reversed his whole life, turned him around, and he never went
back. God set his feet in paths of
righteousness. God set his eyes on that eternal
glory. God set his heart's affection
on Christ, and nobody could shake him. God called him. God called
him. All right, watch this now. It
was a personal call. It was a sovereign call according
to His purpose. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated. Whom He predestinated, He called.
Now, you better deal with that. You deal with it now or you'll
deal with it at judgment. God's going to have the glory.
He said, I am the Lord. My glory I'll not share. I'll
not give it to another. He said, he called the foolish,
he called the things that are nothing. You know your calling,
brethren, now that not many mighty things, not many noble, not many
wise, but the foolish, that no flesh should glow in his presence.
Of him are you in Christ Jesus. He that gloweth, let him glow
in the Lord. It's a sovereign call. He called according to
his purpose. It's a divine call. God does
it. The preacher may preach, and
he does, and we may pray and witness, and we take the Word. But it's God who may give that
Word life. This Word is nothing more than
any other Word unless the Holy Spirit makes it a quickening
Word, a life-giving Word. I'm telling you the truth. And
then thirdly, it's a personal call. He called me. Look over
here at Genesis 12 again. God said, God said, Abraham,
Abraham. Get thee out of thy father's
house." Now watch this. Abraham did what you and I would
do. When the Lord called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, the
first thing he did was persuade his daddy to go with him. Isn't
that right, Charlie? That's the first thing he did.
He persuaded his daddy and the rest of the family. They all
went with Abraham. Abraham says, come on, we're
going out of this place. We're going to a place God has...
And God had called Abraham. He hadn't called Terah. He hadn't
called Nicor. He called Abraham. But Abraham
says, come on, let's all go. He must have been a persuasive
young man because he certainly prevailed to a degree. They went
with him. They followed him. And they went
as far as a place called H-A-R-A-N, and there they stopped. They
said, we're tired. We think we'll just camp here a little while.
We think we'll just... Why did they stop? Why did they
stop? I'll tell you why they stopped.
They stopped just the same reason all these other church members
stay about a month, or six months, or a year, maybe ten years, or
maybe twenty years. They stopped because they hadn't
got the divine call. Abraham had it, Tila didn't have
it. He wasn't doing anything in the world but following men.
That's all he was doing. Terah was following his son. He loved his son. He thought
the world of him. But he was traveling on Abraham's
enthusiasm. He was traveling on Abraham's
enthusiasm. And God help your soul and he
won't, if you're simply going along with somebody else. Wives,
be careful. Remember, Christ said, Lot's
wife. You better remember Lot's wife.
She was married to a man who knew God, but she didn't. She
was married to a man who worshipped God, but she didn't. She was
married to a righteous man, but she wasn't. She was married to
a man whom God had called, but God never called her. And she
went so far and stopped. And Abraham, God called him,
and his father went with him, and Nacor went with him, and
the whole shebang went with him, and they got to Herod. And they
stop. They say, we're just going to
stick around here. It looks awful good to us. And
that's when we pick up the story here. Now, the Lord said, Abraham,
Abraham, you know, natural love tries to understand. It's so,
you take a boy, he gets called to the ministry. We saw that
here in town in Ashton one time several years ago. This fellow
was in a denomination. All his family went with him.
He changed his denomination, all his family went with him.
He quit church and they all quit too. Natural love does that,
you know. It wants somebody to get religion,
everybody, cousins, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, sisters-in-laws,
in-laws, outlaws, all these others will go flocking after them.
And that's what Abraham's family did. They tried to share his
faith, but that is an impossibility. You can't share another's faith.
It always troubles me when a man or woman is converted and their
husband or wife comes right after them. That bothers me. I'm not
saying it can't be, but I'm simply saying This thing's a personal
call. You better not be riding somebody's
coattail down this divine trail because they'll go in the kingdom
of God and you'll be shut out. Abraham, finally God had to say,
Abraham, now watch it, Abraham, you got to leave him. You got
to leave him. You know this thing All of the
listening to the gospel with a crowd, listening to the gospel
with a group, avails nothing. You've got to listen to the gospel
yourself with your own heart. I've got to be convinced of my
personal sins. Have you ever gone through that
personal Holy Spirit conviction? Are you going through it now?
I don't think it ever stopped. I don't think God ever stops
convincing us of sin. I don't think God ever stops
stripping us. Do you go through that personally?
Have you ever been yourself convinced of your need, your own personal
need, your own desperate situation? Has God ever revealed your inability? Has Christ ever been revealed
to you as the only Savior, the substitute? Do you really love
Him? Him! There's a love affair between
you and the Lord. You love Him. You trust Him. You believe on Him. He died for
you. You know it. If the whole world left this
church tomorrow, you'd be right here on the front row saying,
preach to me, preach that blessed gospel of Christ of substitution. I love it. I've got to confess
Him with my mouth. Have you ever done that? Who
confessed for you? If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God raised Him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now I'll tell you this, I love
this gospel. It's my life. It's my heartbeat. I'm devoted to it. I love to
preach it. God's given me a little liberty
to preach it. I believe it. Christ is my Lord. I trust and
hope that I die for him. But there ain't no way Doris
can be saved on that faith. No way. She's got to have the
same experience. And mad, you can't ride Cecil's
experience. There ain't no way. And so you
can't go with Stan. Do you know the Lord? You see
what I'm saying? You. Abraham! I didn't call you
daddy. I called you. I called you. And I'll tell you something forthly
about this call. It's a separating call. Listen
to what he said. Abraham, get out of your country! out of your country. Now brethren,
the believer becomes a citizen of another country. We love,
we love our country here, America. I love it. And I think you do. But believe me, what God does
with it's God's business, I'm looking for a better country.
I'm citizens of a better country. I'm not nearly so much interested
in the politics of this country as I am the politics of that
country. Not nearly so interested. I'm not nearly interested who's
president as I am who's king of kings and lord of lords. I'm
a citizen of that country. I'm looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. I have a desire to depart from
this place of sin and be with Christ, which is far better.
My citizenship is in glory. Can you say that? Get out of
your country. Look at the next line. Get out
from your kindred. Abraham's old associates were
idol worshippers. Abraham was supposed to form
new associations. The believer will find that he
has little in common with the old associates. I'll tell you
this. You know, you heard what Dwight
L. Moody said. He said that lady was walking
down the street one day and there was a drunk lying in the gutter.
And a pig walked up and lay down beside him. And she looked at
him, and the pig looked at her, and the drunk didn't look at
all, but she said, birds of a feather flock together, and the pig got
up and walked away. But when a man comes to know
Christ, he has to leave his old associates. I'll tell you one
thing, they usually leave him because he doesn't have anything
in common with them. They don't talk the same language. They
don't desire the same things, they're not interested in the
same things, they can't, they don't have anything in common.
Abraham, get out! Out of your country, away from
your kindred, and out of your father's house! Now, we always
love and respect our parents, and we should. We'll always love
and care for our families, but the family of God is first. The
family of God is first, and it's a separating call. And then last
of all, look at this Abraham's call again. It's a call based
on a very great promise. Listen to it in verse 2. And
Abraham, I'll make of you a great nation. And Abraham, I'm going
to bless you. Bless you. And Abraham, I'm going
to make your name great. Give you a name that will never
fail. A new name. A new name. And you'll be a blessing, and
I'll bless them that bless you, and I'll curse them that curse
you. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. I'll
bless you and I'll make you a blessing. And God says that to everyone
he calls. He says this, I'll make you a
son. To them gave he the privilege,
the right to become sons of God. I'll make you an heir, an heir
of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. I'll make you a
man of peace. My peace I give unto you. A man
of rest, I'll give you rest. A contented man. I have learned
in whatsoever state to be content. A blessed man, blessed is the
man to whom God will not charge sin, a persevering man, and you
shall never perish." That's a divine call. Do you see the difference? I see
the difference. I see it so plainly and so clearly. I see the difference. Come, humble
sinner, in whose breast a thousand fears revolve, come with your
guilt and fears oppressed, and make this last resolve. I'll
go to Jesus, though my sins hath like a mountain rose, but I know
his courts I'll enter in whatever may oppose. For prostrate I'll
lie before his throne, and there my guilt confess. I'll tell him
I'm a wretch undone without his sovereign grace. He will admit
my plea. Perhaps he'll hear my prayer,
but if I perish, I'm going to go and perish right there. I
can but perish if I go. I'm resolved to try, for if I
stay away, I know I shall forever die. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
Thee for the call of grace. We thank Thee for the general
call. We thank Thee that Thou hast not left Thyself without
a witness, that men may be known, men may know God by the things
that are made, by conscience, by His eternal power, by providence,
by the gospel. But oh, our Father, how thankful
we are for that effectual, divine, personal, separating call which
Thou hast given to us. We thank Thee. Call others. Call
others. Use our voice to be Thy voice. Our message is to be thy message.
These worship services here to be means of thy grace to call
sinners to thyself. For the glory of Christ we pray.
Amen.

The Call of Grace

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The Call of Grace

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