“Am I Called?” (Romans 8:28)

Good morning. Good to see you. If you got a Bible, go ahead and go with me to Romans chapter eight. We’re still in verse 28. Yep. You were you were not done yet, right? Oh, the power of this verse that’s resonated with me over 40 years. Tomorrow is my spiritual birthday. I’m 40 years in Christ. 40 years ago, I walked into a church in Axtell, Texas. I heard the true gospel. I found myself believing. I repented, and I started following Jesus. And I was nervous when I was young in the Lord that you know what if I fall away? You know what if, and you know I was nervous that maybe it won’t stick. You know, and what I come to find, and I hope you find the same thing, is I’m not the one keeping me. He is. And we’re safe because of what He has done. He saved us. He keeps us, and when He does it, it is secure. And that is an assurance that every single saint needs to learn so they can experience that kind of joy and security. That’s the goal of Romans eight is the assurance to the believer. So, the title of this message is “Am I Called?” (Romans 8:28) and that’s a good question, right? That’s a good question to ask yourself. And we’re going to see what the Bible says about that in verse number 28 of Romans eight. And we’ve been covering these for several weeks now, but we’re going to cover three more words. “And we know that for those who love God, all things (here’s the first statement, this is actually a single Greek word: “work together”) all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.” So, let’s take these three. The first two are going to be rather quick. When we say this word “work together. This is a Greek word “synergeo”. It’s where we get the word “synergy” from. And if you know any kind of Greek, you know the word “syn” means “together”. S Y N. Syn means together, and “ergon” is work, ergo, like ergonomic, right? And so, it means to work together. It means something gets blended. It means something gets put together, one thing with the other. And I love what the Puritan Thomas Watson said about this word, and he made the application in it in antiquity. It could be used as a medical term for the apothecary, and that’s basically a medical pharmacist back in the day, long, long time ago, that would take all the elements that he needed to make a medicine and would blend them masterfully to create something that would be healing. Okay? And so a lot of times, what’s in the medicines is somewhat poisonous, but it’s balanced with the herb that’s grown near it, and it’s blended together. And that’s a picture of what God does in the life of a saint. There are things that in themselves they’re not good, but they get woven together in such a way by the hand of God that in your life they work together, and they work together for good. It’s active. It’s not passive. It’s not God sitting back and going, “Well, I hope he makes it through it. You know, I mean, I’m watching to see. You know, are you going to hang in there or not, Mister?” That’s not what He’s doing. He’s active in your life if you are in Christ, and He works it together for the good. Here’s the second word, though what exactly do we mean when we say “good”? Does that mean everything that happens we like? No. Does that mean everything that happens is good? No. It doesn’t mean that, but God works it together for the ultimate good. And I want to tell you something: this good that’s stated here is not a subjective good. In other words, it’s not subjective to whether or not we feel like it’s good, or whether we feel like it’s bad, or whether we see it happening in a good way or not. God is the one telling us how He’s doing this, and that He’s working it together for good, even if it doesn’t look like it yet. So, what is the ultimate good? What is the good that He’s after in our lives? Well, it’s not us just becoming you know happy or having something weak. It’s actually an objective good. Let’s peek into verse 29. Don’t get your hopes up. After verse 28, right? “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be (what?) conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” This is the ultimate good that you are made more and more like Jesus Christ. There is no more sublime state of grace, state of joy, pleasures at His right hand forevermore than there is. Nothing is higher than that of being conformed more and more into His image. That begins at regeneration when a man is saved. That is continued throughout sanctification as his mind’s renewed, as he grows to be more and more like Jesus, and the fruit is born in his life, all the fruits of the Spirit start to show up. They all emanate out of love. So that’s the highest form of discipleship, and it’ll be culminated one day when He raises you from the dead or returns, and you’re waiting for Him here on earth, and you’re going to see Him as He is and the process will be finished, and it looks something like this. This is the highest objective good there is. 1 John 3:2, “Beloved. We are God’s children (when?) now and what we will be has not yet appeared.” So, what do we call this theologically? This is already and not yet. That’s a great theological term to remember. It’s already and not yet. It’s already accomplished. If you’re in Christ, you call God your Father. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you, and Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you. He’ll always be doing that for you as long as it’s needed until you are personally with Him, but there’s going to come a day when you’ll be completely raised from the dead, and you won’t have the vestiges of sin in your members anymore. And he says, that’s what we’re looking forward to here. We will be, but it’s not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be what? “We will be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.” Face to face, eye to eye, your faith becomes sight one day, and the vestiges of your sin pass away; they’re left behind, and you are with Him. This is the ultimate good. All things work together for good. Those who love God are called according to His purposes. So, this is an already and not yet.

But let’s look at one more word here in verse 28. Again, “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are (what?) called according to His purpose.” So, here’s the question you might ask of yourself: “Am I called?” You’ll have it answered today, by the way. I can almost guarantee it. I know the Holy Spirit wants to help with it, and if I can do my job, maybe we can we can get this done. What you have to understand is when you see the word “called” in the Bible, there’s two possibilities of what it might mean. It might mean what theologians sometimes call a general call, or it might be what theologians sometimes call an efficacious or an effectual call, but I’m going to show you in two different terms. They’re going to be this. There’s going to be the external call and the internal call. Two different kinds of calls, and this is the way this works. The external call is made by man. The internal call is done by the Holy Spirit. Okay, two different calls. So, what is the external call?

1. The External Call

The external call is when someone simply proclaims the gospel, and we tell people the gospel, and we say, “Listen, there is a God, and you’re not Him, and the problem with it is that you have sinned against a holy God, and you’re under His judgment, and you’re deserving of His wrath. You are in a place of dire need, but the good news of the gospel is that the Father sent His Son to be the penalty to bear it, the penalty for your sin and for mine, and He laid His life down and bore the wrath of God on the cross 2000 years ago, so that every single person who will ever want to come to Him, God draws and He’s going to He’s going to receive you, and He’ll forgive your sin and give you eternal life. He’ll put His Spirit in you. He’ll seal you for the day of redemption, and one day He’ll raise you from the dead.” And you’re now called to do what? Repent of your sin and believe in your Savior. That’s the external call, and that’s it’s very simple. Actually, you just heard what the actual gospel is, and yes, we want to teach people the scriptures involved in that. But those are the bare bones of it, right there. That’s an external call, and where does that go in? That goes in the ear, right? It goes in the ear. But how many of you know you can hear things with your ear, not hear it with your heart? Do you have kids? See, that’s called knowing laughter, right? They hear you, but they didn’t hear you. Well, the same is true spiritually. You can hear the general call go out, you hear the external call go out, but many, many, many will hear the external call and they’ll ignore it completely. That doesn’t mean it’s not vital. It is absolutely vital that we make the external call.

Here, let me read you this. This is Romans 10:14, it says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Kerysso is the Greek word there. It simply means to herald or to proclaim. That doesn’t mean you have to have a pulpit. That doesn’t mean you need a pulpit at work. That simply means you need to be having conversations and proclaiming the truth of God, the problem of man, Jesus as Savior, and the response that’s required in faith-that’s the general call. How will they hear? Well, the answer is they won’t if we don’t talk. You’ve probably heard the saying before, or maybe you haven’t. It’s not a good saying. It says this: It says, “Preach the gospel. At all times, and when necessary, use words.” No, that is unbiblical, completely unbiblical. People are not going to come to Christ because you helped the older lady next door with her trash. Now, your life should adorn the gospel that you teach and that you proclaim. You should have the fruit of the Spirit. You want that to grow in your life. Yes, that’s not a bad thing. That’s good, but people have to hear the truth told to them that there is a God, and He’s the God of the Bible. That they’re in sin and they’re under judgment, and there’s a Savior, and there’s only one way to get to God, and it’s through the Son. Then they’re called to repentance, and they’re called to faith. That is the general call. That’s what this is referring to, and it is vital that we do it. Let me show you another instance of the general call. Actually, it’ll be included the external call with the internal call. This is 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14. Paul writes, “But we ought all always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you (now we’ll see later. That’s actually the internal call) God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. (Now watch the next statement) To this (to salvation) He called you through our gospel. Do you see it? He called them effectually. He called them internally as the apostle and his and his ministry team were preaching the gospel. That’s how it worked. That’s how the Thessalonians came to Christ. Someone told them. But man’s words can’t penetrate to the heart. Man’s words can’t raise you from the dead. Man’s words can’t give you a new spirit.

My words can’t do any of that. Nobody’s can. That’s why it’s actually really cool when you realize that you can just hide behind the Bible. And I’ve been accused of that. People are like, “You just say so much Bible, you’re hiding behind the Bible because you don’t have that much to say.” You’re welcome. What do you what do you want? Life hacks from Steve LeBlanc? You’re an idiot. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t say it that way. You don’t want that. You’re not an idiot, but you don’t want that. You don’t want that. We want to hear what the Word says. That’s where the food is, because that’s how the Spirit goes to work in a man’s heart, not because of persuasion or humor. Now, can we be ourselves? Yes, we should be. We should be relaxed, and we should be ourselves. But what are we doing? We’re trusting the Holy Spirit to do the work. He’s the one that has to go into the hearts of people who hear the truth, whether it’s sitting in this room or out there somewhere at your workplace or around your kitchen table. The Holy Spirit’s who we’re actually depending upon. So, what we find is that the internal call happens through the external call. Okay, the internal call happens through the external call.

So now let’s look at the internal call.

2. The Internal Call

This is the one the Holy Spirit has to do, and if He doesn’t do it, it does not get done. Again, this is to the heart, and it’s done by the Holy Spirit, not by man. And I wanted to tell you just something else about it. I’m going to prove this to you. The Holy Spirit never fails. If the Holy Spirit calls a man, He calls him not as a request, He calls him with authority. I want to prove this to you. Here, turn with me to John 6:37 first. This is Jesus speaking. Okay, this is not my opinion. This is Jesus talking. Okay, He says this. “All (in the Greek means “all”) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” Not “might come to Me,” “Will come to Me.” “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me.” He’s going to have every single person who is a love gift from the Father to the Son. They’re going to come. Why? Because the Holy Spirit’s going to call them, and it is an effectual call. It’s internal. It creates in you a new life, a new heart, a new Spirit is put inside of you, and you then want to. In other words, He changes the heart. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out.” I’ll never cast out. I’m going to make a statement to you, and I’m going to prove it to you at the end of the message. Every single person who will ever want Jesus will get Him. Every single person who will ever want Jesus will get Him. Every single person who will ever want Jesus will get Him. And listen, no, I don’t want to say that yet. Look down to verse 44. Self-control. Let’s try it. Then He says this statement. He says, John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws Him.” You know why no one can? It’s because no one will. That’s why. You know why? No one will because no one wants to. In our natural condition as fallen human beings, the last thing we want is God interfering with our lives. We don’t want to be told we can’t do our favorite sins. We don’t want to be told who we have to deal with and how we can’t you know have vengeance on people. We want to do what we want to do, and it’s all going to be about us. We’re not going to want God over us. We don’t want Him to, you know, bark orders at us and correct us and discipline us. We want to be God. But what happens is this will has to be changed. “No one can come to me unless (what? Unless) the Father who sent Me draws him, and I’ll raise him up on the last day.” And let me just guarantee you this: all that are drawn by the Father will be raised on the last day. Everybody, everybody the Father draws gives to the Son will be raised on the last day. This word “draw” is not to coax someone. This doesn’t mean, “Hey, come on, would you like this? Oh, poor Jesus is standing at the door and knocking.” That’s a misunderstanding of that verse. When the Holy Spirit does His work, He does it with authority. He’s not a timid used car salesman tapping on your door. “Would you like to have a relationship with Me?” Think of Him more as a tactical entry team kicking down the door of your heart, commanding you to be raised from the dead and giving you a new heart, commanding you to repent and believe on Jesus. That is regeneration. That’s an accurate picture of it. This word is “helko”. It literally means to drag. I’m not making that up. This is the same word that’s used when the disciples are pulling all the fish in the boat. Remember, the nets are about to break? They’re not saying, “Oh, well, let’s sing “Just as I am” 10 more times,” and you can come up to the front, and then “You can repeat a prayer after me, Mr. Fish.” Or when the disciples get dragged in front of the court, they pull him out of prison and they drag him in front. That’s the word. When the Father draws, He does it efficaciously. He does it effectively. How? Because the Holy Spirit’s might is powerful enough to save. Salvation is of the Lord; it’s not of us. He saves us, and that’s what Jesus is talking about. Every single one who He gives me will come to Me. I’m not going to turn any of them away, and no one can come unless the Father draws them. And when He does, “I will raise them up on the last day.” How sure is your salvation? It’s that sure. Now people will argue with this doctrine. The carnal mind fights against it because you say, “Well, I feel like He’s making me do things.” He’s not making you do anything. He’s not. He sovereignly gives you a new heart and breathes new life into you. But then now that you’re raised from the dead, you see your sin and you repent and you see your Savior and you love Him. That’s what He’s always said He’s going to do. This is Old and New Testament. Look at Ezekiel 11:19, “And I will (God says) I will give them one heart.” In other words, the people of God will have the same heart. They’ll all love Him. “And a new Spirit I will put within them, and I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” I’m going to give them a soft heart. He changes you. The outer call, the outward call, goes in. It’s external. It goes in the ear, and the Holy Spirit makes it efficacious, makes it effectual. He makes it internal. He takes it from the ear to all the way to the heart. You find yourself believing you’re raised from the dead, and what do you do? You hate your sin and you love your Savior. It’s like this. That’s how God saves. That’s authoritative, isn’t it? Of course it is. Think about the time when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember that story? Lazarus has been dead four days. “Behold, he stinketh,” she said. Right? Jesus walks up to the stone, and what does He say? Well, He tells them to roll it away first, and then what does He say? “Lazarus, I stand at the door and knock. Would you like to get up?” And Lazarus thinks about it and considers it. No. It says He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus was bound with his grave cloth, so he comes hopping out. That’s a picture of salvation. That’s not a picture of human will. But did he want to come out once he was raised from the dead? Of course he did. Do you see it? You say, “But I did come to Jesus. I did repent.” You did. You did after He saved you because He gave you a new heart. If that’s not the truth, then you’re going to live the rest of your life thinking you’re something you’re not. You’re going to be prideful, arrogant, stuck up, conceited. That’s what you’re going to be because you’re going to feel like, “Hey, look, I had a huge role in my salvation,” and all that does is rob you of your joy. You’ll never really give Him all the all the glory if you think you had a hand in this.

Look at the look at chapter 36 of the same book, Ezekiel 26 and 27. This is an “I will” look. “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I’ll give you a heart of flesh.” Where are you at work in this? You’re not. This is monergistic regeneration. Is what is what this is called. This is one Actor. Now sanctification is two. We’re working together with Nim. We have to read our Bible, right? You have to come to church, right? He doesn’t do these things for you, but you work together with Him, with cooperating with the Holy Spirit, not grieving Him, not quenching Him, and that’s how you grow. He goes on in the next verse, verse 27. Look again, “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. Be careful to obey My rules.” “Cause you”? Does that make you a robot? No, it gives you a new heart. And the more your mind’s renewed, the more you’re cooperating with what’s deepest inside of you. This is someone who’s truly called of God.

Look at the end of this very first sermon preached in the New Testament church. This is Acts chapter two. Peter’s speaking here. Look at Acts 2:39. He says to the people he’s preaching to, “‘For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, (look at this) everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.’” If they’re called, they’re coming. It’s effectual, it’s efficacious, it’s powerful. Salvations of the Lord. Listen, His arm is not short that He cannot save. His ear is not deaf that He can’t hear. His eye is not dim that He can’t see. Let me say it to you this way: God, He’s God, and He’s in heaven and He does whatever pleases Him. And people say, “Well, I don’t know if I like that.” Well, if you don’t like it, it’s because it devastates your pride. You didn’t have a part in it that. He had to save you. You were powerless to save yourself. This is what it’s showing us. Look at Romans 1:6. This is the intro to the book, right? Who’s he addressed this to? He says, “Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.’” That’s who the book was written to. So, you have a man, and he lives his life. He rejects God’s word. He rejects the Savior, and he goes to his grave. You say, “Well, that man never believed in the Bible.” You’re right. You know why? Because it wasn’t written to him. That’s heavy, man. And maybe you’re here, and you say, “I don’t believe the Bible’s the Word of God.” Well, my job isn’t to convince you of that. That’s actually what the Holy Spirit does, because the Holy Spirit has to convince you that you’re hearing the Word of God before salvation. He does. He opens your eyes and says it’s an internal thing. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter one, and this is the intro to the book, isn’t it? Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” “Called to be saints.” That’s not an external call. That is an internal call. He’s referring to people who’ve been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. This is the promise that’s in Romans 8:28, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. This is the called version, if you will. This is that segment of it. If you’re called by Him, He’s at work in you and for you.

And then look at verse nine, the same chapter, 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God is faithful by whom you were called into (what?) Into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.” What did Jesus say? “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws Him, and all who come to Me, I’m not going to turn any of them away, and I’m going to raise every one of them on the last day.” This is great security, Church. Tremendous! Oh, I love the reaction in here. Gosh, you guys are. Please hold your applause till the end. How about Ephesians 1:18? We’ll just keep hiding behind the Bible. This is bullet. Never mind. “Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.” This is a prayer Paul’s praying for the church. He’s praying for the for the Christians, right? In Ephesus. “Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, and what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in who in the saints, that your eyes would be open.” That’s the prayer you could see this. I hope you’re asking, how do I know? Am I called? We’re getting to it. 1 Peter 2:9, “To the church, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.” “Lazarus, come out!” It’s authoritative. If you are in Christ, you probably remember a time when you found yourself believing. You might have been younger, you might have been older, you may have walked an altar, maybe you did pray a prayer. There’s nothing wrong with praying that prayer with somebody, but I’m telling you, salvation happens when the Holy Spirit raises you from the dead, and then confession is made with the mouth. You’re not the causative agent, God is.

2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power (that’s God’s) has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” Who did the calling? He did. Now you heard the gospel from a person, or maybe you read it in the Bible, but He’s the one that raised you from the dead. You were powerless to save yourself. What about the first verse in the book of Jude? Jude is only one chapter. Who’s it written to? Who’s the book of Jude written to? Here, look at verse one. Jude, 1:1, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those (this is who it’s addressed to) those who are called beloved in God the Father and (what?) kept for Christ Jesus.” “Kept for Christ Jesus.” 40 years ago tomorrow. I’ve been kept since 40 years ago tomorrow and I didn’t keep me. I couldn’t have done that. I think it’s a supreme arrogance to think that you keep yourself. How powerful do you think you are? Tell you what, if you could fall away, you would fall away. The Holy Spirit has to keep us. That’s right. That’s not a license to go sin. That’s a proof that you have a new heart, because your wonder has changed. Something inside has happened, and He’s the one doing the keeping. So why do we use the term “called” Well, number one, it’s biblical. But why is it the word that was used in the Bible? Well, because it’s the only way to explain why we love God. It really is. He changed our hearts. You did not love Him by nature. Your initial nature, when you were born, you were born into Adam, and you were born in a in a state of sin, and you were the Bible says your mind was hostile to God. It was enmity against God, and you had a change happen in you. If that happened in you, your mom didn’t do it, neither did a pastor, a preacher, or a best friend. The Holy Spirit actually did that work, and He deserves all the credit and all the glory. So, how do you know if you’re called. Well, here’s a very simple statement: You know that you’re called if you truly love the true God of the entire Bible, because if you’re called, you love Him, and if you love Him, you’re called. I’ll say it again to you: Nobody that wants Jesus doesn’t get Him. If you’re here and you go, “I want Jesus, you’re going to get Him. You get Him. You just do. He doesn’t turn any single person away. If you love God, you’re certainly called. If you’re called, you will certainly love God. Will you love Him perfectly? No, you will not. Will you love Him as He deserves? Absolutely not. But something in your heart knows He loved you first, and He sent His Son, and He cares for you even now and He ministers to you, and the assurance that you lack is probably because you’ve not been properly taught the Bible. I’m just being honest with you, family. We’re gonna drown in a couple of weeks. These next couple weeks are I’m going down deep, and you’re coming with me, and I know what’s coming. People get mad about it, man. They look at that and they hear about the truth, the stuff that would create the highest joy in a believer, and they want to fight against it. And I just don’t understand why. Why can’t He just have all the credit? Why can’t He have all the glory and us have all the joy? Because if you feel like you earned it, you feel like you got to keep it. You know you’re not doing good enough to earn it. You know you’re not doing good enough to keep it, and therefore you shy back from Him, and your intimacy is missing. You want to grow in your relationship with God, grow in your understanding of this. This is the way to it, because really, you remember, there’s only two kinds of people: there are those who love God, and there’s those who hate Him. Covered that a couple weeks ago.

So, I’m going to do a little something a little bit different here this morning, I’m going to read you a quote. It’s a long quote. I’m warning you, and not yet, please, Olivia. But we’re going to bring it up on the screen, and this is by Martyn Lloyd Jones. He was pastor in England from like 1929 to somewhere in the early 60s. Wonderful speaker, wonderful pastor, and a great author. And he wrote this statement about people questioning: “Am I called?” And it’s very significant. I feel I deeply know it’s biblical, and my prayer is that you can hear it. Now you can either listen to me saying it or read along with. That choice is up to you. But here’s how he answers the question: Am I called? “Here are some of the tests. Can you say honestly? ‘I am what I am by the grace of God.’ Are you interested in these things? What has made you what you are? Is it simply that you have decided to do certain things, or do you say in one way or another, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” Does it astonish you that you are what you are and live as you do? These are the proofs as to whether you have been called or not. The true Christian is a man who cannot understand himself. He can only say ‘I am what I am by the grace of God. I have not done this to myself.’ But he knows that something has been done to him. He is amazed at the fact that he loves God. (I’m telling you, fam. I’m shocked. Are you there?) The Christian is a man who is conscious that God has been dealing with him. To be called means that your life has been interrupted and disturbed. That God has done something to you. You do not call yourself; it is God who calls you, the called according to His purpose. To be called means that you know that God has been concerned about you, that He has done everything to you has interfered in your life, has interrupted your life, and laid hold upon you. God interferes with your life, and then you find yourself convicted of sin. (This is at salvation.) You do not desire this. It is entirely against the grain. You do not want to be disturbed. Your desire was to go on living in the same way. You enjoyed sin and found your happiness in the world, but you are disturbed. You are convicted of the wrongfulness of it all. You are not doing this to yourself. It is the last thing you would do, but it has been done to you. And in spite of the fact that you did everything you could to resist it and wished it were not happening to you, but having struggled against it and having fought with it, you begin to have a feeling that this Word of God that disturbs you is true. (In other words, you start understanding the Bible. It’s actually God’s Word.) The natural man does not believe that this Word is true. To him, the Bible is just a book like any other book. But when a man is really called by God, He knows that the Bible is not the mere Word of a man. You felt a persuasion that, though the lips of a man were speaking and the words were coming out of a man’s mouth, it was nevertheless God who was speaking to you. The call of God was coming through this human instrumentality. You knew that the Word was the Word of God and not the words of a man. This in turn leads to a feeling of our own utter helplessness and need. No natural man ever has or can ever bring himself to have that feeling. The Lord calls the sinner to repentance and then displays to him the greatness of his own salvation. Anyone, therefore, who has this feeling of helplessness has a good presumptive evidence of being called. Nothing can produce that feeling in you, but the Spirit of God. It is His work to do this calling. Next, we begin to see the fullness and the sufficiency of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His salvation, we see that He is the Son of God, and we believe in Him as such. Only the Christian does this. It is the Holy Spirit alone who can convince a man of the truth that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and the truth of His atoning death and its sufficiency and the glory of His resurrection. He feels a magnetic spiritual attraction. Something is constantly calling him, and he responds to this blessed call of God. Are you aware of this calling? All things work together for the good to them who are the called according to His purpose. He has laid His hand upon you and arrested you and apprehended you. Has He drawn you with the cords of His love? The inevitable result is amazement at yourself, and you say with Paul, ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.’ This is always the great characteristic of the man to whom the great promise of this 28th verse is true. Are you surprised at yourself? Are you surprised at the fact that you are reading these words, and you can enjoy them and do not find them extremely boring? (I mean, think about that. Why in the world are you here? I have to have some confidence that people of God want to gather here to hear the Word of God because you know what we’re going to do every week. Think about it. You’re going to show up. You’re going to grab some coffee. You’re going to come in here. You might mingle a little bit. We’re going to remind you of the gospel. We’re going to stand. We’re going to sing to the Lord. We’re going to lift Him up and we’re going to praise Him. And then we’re going to remind you of why we do what we do. We’re going to make a couple announcements. Some guy’s going to yell at you for about 40 minutes, then we’re going to tell you what to do. Right? You should return your tithe. You should come forward and get prayer. You should go out to Connection Central. We bar quarters at you, and then you leave, and then you get up the next Sunday and do it again. You’re either being drawn and called, or you’re terrible at picking hobbies. That’s no cold comfort either. He goes on.) The called are the people who desire more and more of this. They cannot help themselves. They are ‘newborn babes’. They desire ‘The sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby’. We ‘love God’, we are ‘the called according to His purpose’; and our actual experience in the Christian life tells us that this is true.” ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones

What good news is that? Tell you what, that’s a comfort to me, because He’s been messing around in my life for 40 years, and by messing around, I mean He just doesn’t leave me alone. He doesn’t leave me to myself. He ruined sin for me. If you were ever in the world, if you had experience in living in just a headlong, ongoing, unrepentant sin, and then he arrested you, you know what I mean. You couldn’t find the same pleasure. He spoiled all the parties. I tried to go to parties after I got saved, and He was there. He ruined them, convicting me and stomping out my fun. And I mean, why would I want Him to do that? Well, because He had apprehended me, and He apprehends me still. Now, maybe you’re here and you’re saying, “Ah, what if I’m not called?” Well, let me tell you this: If you’re worried about it, there’s a reason. It’s a reason. There’s a reason to it.

I want to read you something out of Romans 10, closing here. Now we read verse 14, right? We have to share the gospel. How will they believe unless they hear? How will they hear unless we declare it? But look at the verse right before it. Romans 10:13-14, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Now, does that simply mean just saying, “Okay, fine, ‘The Lord’”? No. Psalm 145:18 says, “To all those who call upon Him in truth.” When somebody in their heart says this, “I give up. I can’t do it. I know I’m a sinner. I know I’ve fallen short. I can’t save myself. I can’t turn over enough new leaves. I can’t even go back in time and make restitution for what I’ve done. I know I’ve sinned against a holy God. I’m terrified of it.” What do I do? You call on Jesus and you ask Him to save you. You say, “Will He?” Yes. “How do I know?” Because He’s saving you as you call on Him. Otherwise, you would never call on Him. Here’s how it works. He calls us, and then we call on Him. He’s drawing you, and every single person who wants Jesus gets Him. And do you understand this? Nobody who doesn’t does, unless He changes their heart and gives them a new one, and changes their dead spirit and breathes life into it and raises them from the dead. And if that’s your desire, there’s no magic prayer. You call on Him. And my prayer is that who knows how many this weekend will hear this, even over the broadcast, maybe on television, maybe in the archives, and they’ll say this: “It’s me. I have that desire.” That’s God calling you. He’s convicting you of your sin. That’s God calling you. He’s showing you a Savior. That’s God calling you. But what do you do? Don’t fight it. Don’t resist. Don’t grieve Him. Yield to that and say, “Okay, Jesus, save me. I take You. I’m trusting You.” And see, that’s not you initiating. That’s a gifted response that you’ve been given, and He gets all the credit. He gets all the glory. And saints, if you’re here and you’re saying, “I know that’s me,” and it’s been that way since whatever year you had that happen. Then you can rest in the assurance that what He started, He will finish. And Romans eight is the anchor of that assurance for you to ever be able to be bold to go before the throne of grace to find, listen, mercy and grace to help in time of need.

KEYWORDS

Romans 8, Apothecary, Synergeo, God’s Purpose, Work Together, Synergy, Good, Ultimate Good, Conformed, Already Not Yet, General Call, Called, External Call, Efficacious Call, Effectual Call, Internal Call, Holy Spirit, Ear, Heart, Regeneration, Salvation, Divine Grace, Draw, Drag, Assurance, Kerysso, Helko, Thomas Watson, Martyn Lloyd Jones, Monergistic Regeneration, Online Sermon, Bible Sermon, Bible Church, Non-Denominational Church, Texas Church, Grayson County Texas Church, Sherman Church

Speaker

Steve LeBlanc