The Golden Chain of Redemption: Called

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Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.

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Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art my light.

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Alright, well if you guys would join me as we pray. Open your Bibles to Romans Chapter 8. We're studying the

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Golden Chain of Redemption as it's sometimes referred to as. And so as our worship team gets down and you guys open your

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Bibles to Romans 8, we're going to pray that God would speak to us through the message.

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So Romans Chapter 8, New Testament Book, Paul's letter to the church in Rome. Let's go ahead and pray.

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Father, we come before you God. And first we want to thank you Lord and submit ourselves to you

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Lord. We're in awe of you Lord. We tremble at your Word. Your Word is a light Lord. And God, you speak truth

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Father. We recognize God that this is your very Word God. Theanoustos, breathed out by you

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God. That this came about because Lord, you carried men along to write Lord your very

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Words. And so we come before you Lord recognizing God that we look onto the pages of your very revelation of yourself in history

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God. And we tremble and we submit to you Lord. We're in reverence before you God.

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In awe of you Lord. We want to thank you so much Lord for the gift of salvation, the gift of your Word that you would even condescend and reveal yourself to us.

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Father, thank you. And God, we want to ask Lord that you would get me out of the way today. And that you would speak by your

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Spirit God. That you would illuminate your Word. That you would teach. God, we come to you Lord just taking great, great joy and pleasure in the fact that God, you've saved your people.

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You've brought us to yourself. You've given us the gift of eternal life. And so Lord, we come to you as your people that you've redeemed.

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And we ask Lord to be taught by you. To be equipped by you. To be blessed by you. And we pray that in Jesus' name.

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Amen. So Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, New Testament book. If you're new to Apologia Church, we're doing a study verse by verse.

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Really it's called an exposition of a book. We're doing Romans verse by verse, word for word.

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And we've been in it for a while now. We're in chapter 8, nearing the end of chapter 8. But we're calling this study, oh it's not there anymore.

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Look at that, it was the first time I looked back and that's missing. The gospel according to Paul. Because really Paul is systematically explaining the good news.

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Don't be jaded by that term. You may have seen it on a post somewhere outside. You might have seen it on a television commercial.

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Maybe you heard it growing up as a kid. The word gospel. But it's so critical as Christians that you really love that word.

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And that you really rejoice. You find like great delight in rejoicing over it. But not just that you're jaded to it.

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Like oh gospel, that's one of those Christian words we use in the Christian ghetto. That's like our Christianese talk, right?

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It's just the Christian banter. Stuff on bumper stickers or t -shirts. Speaking of a t -shirt, this is, never mind. Okay, we're talking about the good news of God.

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And that's the thing Paul opens up Romans with. Romans chapter 1 says specifically that it's God's good news. So that should immediately cause you to open your eyes, to think hard, to start listening, to sort of like get everything else, to get out of the way and out of the picture for a moment.

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Because this is God's good news. It's His good message to people for salvation. It's a

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Paul unpacks it and it starts off very ugly, talking about our condition of sinfulness, our fallenness, the fact that we're part of a race of rebels.

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There's no one righteous, no one good. And then there's the but now as the chapters lead on. But now, what

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God has done in Christ is He has provided the means of justification. That people can be declared righteous in God's eyes as a gift through faith apart from works of law.

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Because on that cross, Jesus propitiated that Jesus diverted the wrath of God away from God's people and that Jesus absorbed it all into Himself.

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That He took it all, that He exhausted the wrath of the Father and the justice of God in the place of His people so that we could be redeemed.

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So that Romans 4 talks about the fact that God will never count your sins against you again if you're in Christ.

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That He has washed away all of your sin. That He's been faithful to His covenant promises to Abraham, to David.

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That there are basically two people as representatives in the world. First is

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Adam. He's a representative in the fall. He's the father of the human race. And in Adam all die.

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All that's in Adam is death, spiritual death, sin, transgression, condemnation. But God sends a second representative.

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The Adam that really counts. The one in whom if you are in Him, you have righteousness.

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The gift of righteousness it's called. The gift of eternal life. You have actual peace with God, Paul says in Romans 5 .1.

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Not as something that you're trying to pursue that maybe one day if you're good enough, enough climbing of that ladder, maybe one day you'll have peace with this

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God. But Christians actually can say, according to Romans, that because we have been, past tense, declared righteous by God through faith, we presently have shalom, peace with God.

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Christians aren't looking to get peace with God. They got it at the cross and because of Jesus' resurrection, because God has brought them to Himself.

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That's the story of Romans. And then it goes into the fact that all who are in Christ are joined together with Jesus.

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It's not a God's out there, we're over here kind of scheme. The truth is, is that what God has done is something really significant that man -made religion can't touch.

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He has redeemed people and He's brought them to His Son and He has joined them together with Him so that all that Christ is in His righteousness and holiness and perfection, so are

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God's people. And all that you were in your failures and brokenness and sin was counted to Christ.

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And then if you're in Christ, you're no longer dead, but now alive, no longer slave, but now you're free.

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That's the message of Romans in chapter six. And then you move into seven and Paul basically describes the fact that all who are in Adam essentially are powerless to do what

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God wants. And then if you are basically in the flesh, still fallen in Adam, you can't do what

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God calls you to do. But if you're in Christ, now you actually can. You're not in the flesh, you're in the spirit.

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Where those who are in the flesh, if you're fallen, basically you're hostile to God. You might have appearances and moments of the image of God bubbling up and coming out of your life.

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You might have the appearance of goodness or righteousness, but ultimately it's not really connected in there.

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And that Paul basically says, if you're in the flesh, you cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh.

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If you're in Christ, you're in the spirit indwelt by God. And so therefore Christians can actually now get free from the things that entangle us.

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Christians can now, through the process of sanctification, because of the indwelling presence of God's spirit,

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Christians actually now can pursue God, love God, obey God. That's the truth.

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So Romans eight now. Romans eight is awesome. Starts off chapter one,

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I'm sorry, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I like them apples.

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That's awesome. No condemnation means what it says. There is no condemnation for those who are in.

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Notice the in Christ Jesus is a phrase you need to become very familiar with and you need to learn to love, because Paul uses it bunches of times.

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He has a lot of letters in the New Testament and he uses that phrase over 70 times in Christ.

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He uses other phrases to actually talk about the same thing, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ.

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Notice there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When you were in Christ, you were condemned.

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At the cross, Jesus received your condemnation. That's why no more condemnation ever again, because when

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God takes on flesh in the person of Christ and absorbs what is due to his people, it's done.

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Not just for now, not just because this week might go well for you, but for all eternity at that cross.

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So technically speaking, if someone says, well, when were you saved? Ever had that question? Well, when were you saved?

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When were you saved? I mean, technically speaking, you were saved at the cross. You were justified at a point in your life when

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God called you to himself and redeemed you, but technically speaking, it was done at the cross.

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It is finished, no condemnation, done at the cross. And it was when God brought you to himself and called you that he applied that work of salvation in your life, and that's where we're at today.

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Romans Chapter 8, we're at the golden chain of redemption. I'm going to read you the passage. Romans 8, 29 is actually where we're at today.

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Watch what it says here. It says, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his

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Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

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And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

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We call that the golden chain of redemption in a theological biz, okay?

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That's what we call that, the golden chain of redemption. And we call it the golden chain of redemption because it really is God laying out his plan of salvation that he works out.

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Notice that the terminology here is something that God does. Did you catch that?

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Did you notice that in the text? That everything in the text is something that God is doing, not you.

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It says that God foreknows, God predestines, God calls,

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God justifies, God glorifies. You cannot break that beautiful chain. We call it the golden chain.

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It can't be broken because it's God's work. That's why it can't be broken. It's not dependent upon your will, your action, your failures, your successes.

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This plan is the plan of God that actually starts before you were even in liquid form.

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Got that? It's a big one. And it's something that God does. Notice we already done the other things. I can't review all that we did over the last couple of weeks, although I'd love to, but we probably have somebody falling out of a window dead.

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That was a little Bible joke for all you Bible nerds. Kenny knows what I'm talking about, right, Kenny? What's up,

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Kenny, Patty? You know what I'm talking about. So we're not going to go over all the old messages, but we will go over just a quick touch on some points that you need to capture.

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Number one, the terminology foreknow and the terminology predestined. Just a quick touch on it.

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Number one, God foreknows. It doesn't mean that God takes in knowledge of something.

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Some people might actually come up with the, I would say, man -made idea that God foreknows basically means that God sort of like looks through time to see who will believe in him.

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The truth is, if that were the case, it would mean two things. Number one, it would mean that nobody would ever be saved because if he looked through time, all he would see is dead people, spiritually dead, alienated, hostile to God, ungodly, not righteous, and no one able to come to God.

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So if it were true that God foreknew based on looking through time to see who would choose him, then none of us would be in this room today.

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So praise God, that's not true, OK? The second thing that's wrong with that idea is it's holy and biblical.

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The idea that God would take in knowledge is philosophically bankrupt when it comes to what is biblically acceptable.

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God doesn't take knowledge in. God doesn't go, oh, that's interesting. God knows all things, all things.

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He doesn't have to think and go, I wonder, or let's see, or he knows all things. So when he foreknows, it's biblical terminology.

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In other words, to a Jewish person who knows their scriptures, the idea of God's foreknowledge would be really plain for them.

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They wouldn't be understanding foreknowledge as God taking in knowledge of something. When God foreknows a people for Christ, it's

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God choosing to enter into intimate relationship with people. Did you get that?

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And the idea here is, biblically speaking, when God speaks to Israel, he says, you only have

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I known from all the nations of the world. When God says that kind of thing, it doesn't mean that God only knows them and he doesn't know about the other nations.

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It means that God chose them out of all the nations in the world to come into relationship with himself, that God did that sovereignly.

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And if you read Deuteronomy 7 -7, you'll see there was nothing in Israel that really caused God to go, hey, hot stuff.

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Let me get those people. If you read Israel's history, you realize kind of interesting, not really hot stuff.

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And a lot of times you might see a picture of yourself in Israel's history, right? But the truth is, is that God's foreknowledge is

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God's choosing to enter into relationship with people. Second point that you need to capture is that God predestines.

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Let's look at the golden chain. And I want you, if you would, repeat it with me so you know it. Everyone say foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies, glorifies.

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That's the golden chain in the text. So foreknows is God choosing before the world begins to enter into intimate relationship with the people.

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Second thing is he predestines them. What does that mean? It means what it sounds like.

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He predestines a people to be saved. A couple passages to look at while you look at home through this text.

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Read Ephesians chapter one. It talks about how God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons, that he does this according to Ephesians one, all to the praise of his glorious grace.

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You say, well, why would God choose to save me? Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

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You know it. It's already vibrating in your soul. Even if you have sort of a, you sort of had an idea in the background of your mind of isn't this sort of like God and I working in tandem together to accomplish this salvation thing.

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Even if you've ever thought that in the past, I want to just encourage you to see it's always been down there.

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You have the understanding. This is all his grace. It was all amazing grace that saves a wretch like me.

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I was blind. I see. I was lost. I'm found. Predestining is

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God choosing to save. Those are my people. And he puts together a plan to save those people that the father chooses a people for Christ, that Jesus comes as the good shepherd who lays his life down for the lost, for the elect, his sheep.

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And John 10, he says, he knows. And he lays his life down for the sheep.

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God's choice to save. Read Ephesians 1. Read Romans 9. OK, the call of God. Today we're hitting the word, ready?

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For no, predestined, and ready? Call. What's that mean?

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Call all those whom he predestines, he calls. Well, sometimes this is called, in the theological biz, we call this effectual call, or efficacious call.

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If you were looking history, when the doctrine of salvation was defended against error at the

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Synod of Dort, there was a point in it, and that was essentially called irresistible grace, or effectual call.

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And what that essentially means is this, is that when God chooses to save, he predestines people to save, that God has the power to actually bring about what he commands.

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Do you get that? He has the power to bring about what he commands. And so the call of God is that God is actually able to bring dead people to life, and bring them to himself.

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Listen, if you want to put it in a phrase, the call of God, ready, creates what it commands.

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The call of God creates what it commands. If he foreknows people, if he predestines them, and then he calls them, essentially what we're saying is the call of God has the power to create what it commands.

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Again, sometimes this is referred to as efficacious call, or effectual call. I want you to consider the context when you think about the call of God.

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Just go with me, guys, for a second. Think through this with me for a second. Where have we been? Where have we been over the last two years of really unpacking

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Romans? Well, we spent the first year in sin, as a church. One year in sin, whoo!

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Right? No, really, in reality, that's what we did. It was one whole year. I mean, talk about, hey, Jeff, let's plant a church.

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Great, let's spend a year talking about sin, and depravity, and human brokenness. Does that make any sense to you guys?

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And yet, here we are. So apparently, God is sovereign, right? But the first year, we spoke just the first three chapters of Romans, talking about the fallenness, and brokenness, and the fact that we're all rebels, and that there's none righteous.

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And it's pretty ugly. The first three chapters are ugly. Consider the context when you think about the call of God, guys.

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Number one, all are fallen. References for this, all you need to do is look at the first five chapters of Romans.

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Read the whole Bible, OK? But in the first five chapters of Romans, I'll throw out some terminology,

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OK? Number one, the context, all are fallen. Think about Romans 1. It says that everyone knows God.

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He's made himself clearly known to them. They suppress the truth about God. They exchange God for idols.

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They go off into all kinds of things, sexual brokenness, disobedience of parents, slanderers, gossips, haters of God.

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And they not only do these things, but they actually give approval to those who practice them. And then it talks about how we're not going to get right with God through morality because we judge people for what we actually do, right?

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And that there's essentially this ugly picture in Romans 3, a collage of verses that Paul pulls together from the

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Old Testament revelation, where Paul basically throws down on all the human race.

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There are some good people, right? Paul says there's none righteous, not even one. You say, well, but Paul, apparently you're not listening to Gandhi.

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He's a good man, right? Paul says, not righteous. How about Mother Teresa? Not righteous. Billy Graham, not righteous.

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Martin Luther King, not righteous. By the way, do you know that over the last many years that I've been serving in ministry, when

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I ask the question, who are some righteous people in history, that I just named all the names that always get brought up?

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Everyone, Gandhi, it's Gandhi, it's Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and Martin Luther King.

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That's pretty much what everyone always says, right? But even though those highlight people in history, the

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Bible says not righteous. As a matter of fact, do your Bible studies. Moses, not righteous.

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Isaiah, not righteous. Abraham, not righteous in himself. Isaiah, not righteous. Peter, James, Paul, John, not righteous.

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No one who does good, no one who seeks for God. And Jesus says in John chapter 6, no man can come to me.

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John 6, 44, no man is able to come to me, it says.

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You say, like, why? Well, John chapter 8, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

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That's why people can't come. We're born rebels, we're fallen in Adam. That is credited to all of humanity.

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And when we're in our sin, even when God's grace abounds in our lives, we still rebel, we still run, we still choose the other direction.

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And it's crazy, it's madness to think about the fact that even people who are, say, militant atheists, writing books against God's existence, making fat stacks of cheese on those books, even right now,

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God is causing the rain to fall on them. Even right now, God is causing their hearts to beat.

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And right now, putting breath in their lungs and sustaining them and letting them experience things like love and truth and beauty and goodness.

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Even then, God is good. But we're rebels. That's the context.

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All are fallen. Two, no one has the ability to come to God. For this, again, you don't have to go far.

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But in Romans, check it out. No man has the ability. There is none who seeks for God.

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None who seeks for God. Hear that again, ready? There is none who seeks for God.

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How about our ability to get right with God through his law? How about that? That'll work, right? Give me some laws and I'll make it happen.

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The Bible says, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin,

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Paul says in Romans chapter 3, verse 21. And then he says this, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.

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Why? Because you can't do it through law because we're fallen. And even heavier is

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Romans chapter 8. Listen to how Paul words this in Romans 8 about our ability to actually perform.

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Look what he says here. Romans chapter 8. And look in verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

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But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Now get the wording here. This is critical.

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Listen closely. Verse 6, for to set the mind on the flesh is death. This is describing all who are in Adam, all who are spiritually alienated.

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So basically someone who's not in Christ is being described here. The mind set on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the

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Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh, ready, here's the word, is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

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Indeed, ready? It cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please

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God. What's it saying? What's your ability as a person who's fallen? We have some natural innate ability to cooperate with God?

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Not according to Jesus. Not according to Paul here. No ability. In our rebellious state we wouldn't seek for God.

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We wouldn't cling to God. Sometimes you might say, Jeff, why are you harping on this point?

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Because if you want to understand the sheer graciousness and glory of the gospel and the call of God to redeem sinners, you got to get this point.

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Listen, some people have often related the experience of salvation to something like you're in the ocean, sort of sloshing around, right?

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And you're begging for help. Help, help, help, right? You're sloshing and you really want help.

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And you're out there and it's an unfortunate accident. You sort of, you know, you were dancing on a ship, whatever, and it sped off and you fell overboard.

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And like, you're out there all helpless and you watch your friends kind of speed off and they don't know you're gone.

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And it's sort of like that movie where they like get left in the scuba gear, right? And the sharks are everywhere. What's that called again?

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Open water. That was freaky, freaky. I hate the ocean. I do.

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If you want to know, like, is there any like thing where you're afraid of? Like, I grew up in martial arts fighting men from a little kid.

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Like, that was my karate school. All dudes punching me in the face, kicking me, knocking me out. I'd pass out, they'd drag my body to the side of the dojo.

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I'd wake up later. Like, you know, there's still classes still going on. I love to fight. I do.

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Put the biggest guy in front of me and I'm like, yes. I get excited. I love to kick people in the head.

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I do. I love it. I enjoy it. I'm sorry. But you put me in the ocean,

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I'm freaking out. Like, there's stuff down there and you don't know. You don't know.

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We pretend to know what's down there. You don't know. You don't know. And it's scary. Anyway, you're in the water.

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You're in the water. That had nothing to do with the message for today. That was just an honest moment with me.

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But you're in the water. And people get this picture of people in the water sloshing around. And like, it's an accident that they're there.

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Like, they're helpless and they don't want to be there. And it's sort of like God's coming along in a little boat. I don't know what God's doing in a boat, but apparently he has a boat.

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And he's in a boat sort of going around you. And he's like, hey, here's a life preserver. And the idea is sometimes given that like, it's up to you.

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To catch the life preserver. Do you want help? Well, if you would only get God's life preserver, because he's throwing it out.

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He really wants you to grab it. He's throwing it out. And all you need to do is but reach out and grab this life preserver.

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And God's doing what he can. He ran in a boat. And he's got this life preserver.

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And you just got to grab it. Now, the interesting thing is that might sound all well and good and, oh, that's so sweet.

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God's throwing a life preserver. And it's just up to you to do it. The truth is, is that is not in any way a biblical picture of our state.

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That we're helpless people sloshing around in the water, just wanting someone to throw us a life preserver. It's just sort of up to you.

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The truth is, biblically speaking, is that we were pursuing death and dove.

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And when God came by to try and rescue, we would, according to Dr. White, I like how he quotes this, we'd spit in his face and dive.

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And the truth of salvation is that not that we're sloshing around asking for help and God's throwing life preservers out and all we have to do is grab it.

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The truth is, is that we're dead carcasses at the bottom of the ocean floor. Helpless, dead, haters of God.

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We got there because we were running away from the king. And if he'd offer any help, we'd spit at him.

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That's the truth of our condition. And you've got to capture that when we think about our ability, is that it's because we're dead.

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It's because we're rebels. Number three, third point, consider the context. It's really important, ready?

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Number three, all are worthy of condemnation. To get call of God, you've got to catch this.

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All are worthy of condemnation, ready? And this is huge, we did this last week, right? Remember the picture I gave you of the judge.

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What, guys, what, what is demanded in a court?

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Grace or justice? Justice. And so we think about the human condition and our fallenness.

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A lot of people will ask questions around predestination and God's election. They'll say, well, how come God doesn't choose everybody? What is that question presupposing?

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That grace is demanded. But grace isn't demanded, justice is demanded. The proper way to ask the question surrounding the issue of God's choosing and his saving is really this question, how come

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God saves one? How come God saved me, is the better question to ask.

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Now, why doesn't God save everybody? God is holy, that's what's missing. Do you know, I got to say this, this is a weird experience for me.

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I don't know if some of you guys were even in the room when this happened, but it was something that actually took me like kind of back for a second, I was like,

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I don't know where to go with this. So I'm at Calvary and I'm preaching to everyone, people, most are brand new, most are like me, weren't raised in a

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Christian home, so I love that crowd. And so I'm trying to give them the gospel and I'm talking about sin.

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And you know what I said, I said this, I said, I said, do you think, guys,

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I said, do you think that God is angry with the person who molested a child, that that's a sin that God is angry over?

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Do you think that angers God when someone engages in that behavior? And do you know what the whole room said? No, God loves everybody.

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And it hit me for a second, I said, wait a minute, do you guys believe that God is not angry when a man rapes a woman, that that is an anger

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God? And they go, no, he loves everybody. I said, let me ask you a question, does it anger you?

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And they said, what? Yes, you're putting

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God at a lower standard of holiness than you are. And that's what's wrong with our culture, right?

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Is no vision to the holiness of God. All we want to express is that God is love. And let me just say this, we don't even get it.

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It is so much more than we even imagine. And his mercy and his love and his goodness and his light. And we don't even have a way to really,

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I think, comprehend it all. But what we're missing is the holiness of God. And when you think about the holiness of God and our own brokenness and sinfulness, well, then election makes perfect sense.

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It's the only option. If God doesn't save, if God doesn't call, if God doesn't justify, nobody would come.

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You see, it's the holiness of God. What is demanded is justice.

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And yet God, ready? Help me with this, guys. Foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies, glorifies.

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There's the chain. And so a couple of places in scripture I want to show you. Go fast with me. Romans chapter 11. The best thing for me to do is to get you into the

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Word. Are you ready? We're going to go kind of quickly. Romans 11. I want you to see it working itself out through the text of scripture.

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Because you see, it's one thing for a pastor to be able to explain a host of scriptures and try to build it together into a line.

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It's another thing for you to just see God having conversations about this, right? So Romans chapter 11.

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Here we go. Ready? Paul, in the same text, same book, right? Same letter, actually. Look what he says in verse 1.

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The Apostle Paul says, I ask then, has God rejected his people? Now why is he asking this question?

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Here's why. This is in the late 50's of the 1st century, shortly before the Neuronic persecution of the

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Christians. And you've got a lot of Jews who have come to Jesus and called him Messiah. But you also have a lot of Jews that are saying, no, he's not the

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Messiah. And so listen, you're a 1st century Christian. And think about it for a second. You still have Jews like going to temple, offering animal sacrifices.

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And you're saying, it's done. It's all done. He's the Messiah. He's Lord of all.

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He's King of kings. And they're going, where? Like, how do you know this?

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And so Paul is dealing with this issue that Jewish believers in the 1st century are really in the minority who are

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Christians. And so the question is, like, so what, has God, like, rejected his people?

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Like, Israel now was just, like, cast away? Here's the answer. For I myself am an

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Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he...

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what's the word? This is... ready? You get that? He hasn't rejected his people whom he...

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what? Foreknew. Paul is saying here, no, God hasn't rejected his people.

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Look who's speaking to you. I'm a Hebrew. I'm an Israelite. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. He hasn't rejected his people whom he foreknew.

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Now watch. It says, Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah? How he appeals to God against Israel?

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Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have demolished your altars. And I alone am left, and they seek my life.

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Feels like being a Christian and American today, doesn't it? But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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So too, look what Paul's answer is, at the present time there is a remnant, what's the word?

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Chosen by what? Grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

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Otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What's Paul's answer? Isn't it vivid?

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Isn't it huge? He's saying, don't you guys remember in the Old Testament Elijah was crying out saying,

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I'm the only one left. And what's God's answer to Elijah? Elijah, I've reserved for myself 7 ,000 who haven't bowed the knee to Baal.

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And Paul says, that's what it's like today. In the first century, there's a remnant of believers that Paul's saying, that's how it is right now.

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You might have disobedient people over here who have not come to God, but God has chosen a remnant.

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Based on what? What's the answer Paul says? Not on the basis of works, but on the basis of what?

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Grace. So it was nothing in them. It was nothing in Paul. Think about it for a second.

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Who's the one writing a letter? For goodness sakes. He's guilty of killing at least one

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Christian, throwing a bunch in jail. He says, I was so zealous in Galatians 1, I persecuted the church of God, I tried to destroy it.

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Was there something in Paul that was really like, God was like, hmm, hot stuff.

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That guy, I gotta get this guy on my team. Right? No, he was dead.

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And God brings him to life. Right? Even the picture in Acts is that he's blinded and then he gets his sight.

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You think that's an accident? That he's blinded and then he gets his sight and then he believes? Not an accident.

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So next thing, let's look at another passage. John chapter six. Just go there quickly. I'm not gonna do a heavy one on this one today, but just as a way of reference,

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I want you to know where to go. I hope you're taking notes today because this is a big one. In John chapter six, you can just look at a few passages starting at verse 35.

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I'm gonna run through it quickly and hang with me here because I really want you to see this discussion taking place in the

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Bible. You need to be able to filter your pastor's words through scripture and say, is what he's saying consistent with what the text says?

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John 6, 35, Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life, whoever comes to me who shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

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Think about this. People are there, they're hanging out. They're with Jesus. They look like they're with the church.

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They're hanging out with him. They're eating the food. They're there like for the potluck, right? They're there, Koinonia is happening, right, with the

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Jesus crowd. And Jesus says to them, you've seen me and you don't believe. And what's his answer?

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All that the Father gives me, watch this, will come to me.

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There's no question in Jesus' mind that the elect people the Father has given to Jesus, they're coming.

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And there's not a thing in the world that can stop that because watch what Jesus says. If you have any question about whether or not through faith in Christ, you'll be cast out.

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Look what he says, I come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

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For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks in the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

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And this ticked them out and off. This did, look at what it says here.

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Look what it says right after, this is awesome. So the Jews grumbled about him.

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And look what Jesus says in verse 43. Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves.

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And I love Dr. White on this passage, he talks about it well. The word is gungusmungi, something like that.

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Gungusmungi, and it sounds like grumbling. And Jesus tells them, stop it. Stop gungusmungi, whatever it is.

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The word is funky, and he's like, stop doing that, making all that noise. And Jesus says to them, he says, no one can come to me unless the

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Father who sent me draws him, now watch this, and I will raise him up.

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This is so critical. And I want to say this, the idea that God is somehow held chain to the will of man in salvation, and that God can really, really try to save, but fail over and over and over, is annihilated in this passage.

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Look what he says, no one can come, unless what? The Father draws him.

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And what does Jesus say he does with the him the Father draws? He raises him up. Everyone the

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Father draws, Jesus raises to life. That's a fact. Let's do another one,

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John 10, go there quickly. John chapter 10, again, I wanted to spend the time today letting you see the passage.

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I'm going to go quickly through the text, so stay with me. But go to John 10, and look what Jesus says in John chapter 10.

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You have the passage in 11, where he says, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the what, guys?

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For the sheep. Get that, underline it, highlight it, star it, whatever you want to do. Good shepherd lays his life down for, specifically, the sheep.

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Now watch what he says here. He says, verse 14, I am the good shepherd. Watch what he says.

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I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the

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Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep that he what? Knows.

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Any question in Jesus' mind about who these people are, or that what he's going to be able to accomplish on their behalf?

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Jesus says, I know them. And watch what he says here. I love this. He says, even as the Father knows me, and I know the

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Father, so the sheep. Now that is something I don't understand. That's awesome.

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You've got to admit, you don't fully comprehend that, do you? I don't. I'd love for you to fill me in that the intimate knowledge in this relationship that Jesus is saying the

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Father has the Son, and he has the Son, and he has the Son, and he has the Son, and he has the Father. He says like that with us. This is just an incredible truth.

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He says, I lay my life down for the sheep. Now watch, this is interesting, because you've got to see how this works out with the call of God.

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Look at verse 24. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense?

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If you're the Christ, if you're the Messiah, tell us plainly. And I love Jesus' response. And it's not an accident this flows this way.

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So pay attention. He says, they say, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, verse 25,

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I told you. You see, guys, it wasn't that he wasn't saying it, right?

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Because what does he say? Tell us plainly what's Jesus say. I told you.

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It wasn't that he didn't say it, and they were missing some information about him. You see, you might ask the question, well, then why?

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It's in the text. I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my

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Father's name bear witness about me. Watch this, verse 26. But you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

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Really heavy. You don't believe because you're not my sheep. Listen to what he does not say.

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He does not say, you're not part of my flock because you don't believe.

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He says, you don't believe because you are not of my sheep.

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Did you get that? But look what he says about them, though. This is important, because this is, by the way, where if you're a believer today, and you love

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Jesus, let me give you something that should settle your soul. Now listen closely, because if you're a

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Christian, you need to hear this, and you need to fall in love with this. This needs to get into your bloodstream, become part of your makeup.

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This needs to be recited in the morning. This needs to be recited in the evening. This needs to be recited at the hospital bed.

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This needs to be recited when something's broken. This needs to be recited all in life's storms.

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Jesus says this. Are you ready for this? This is on my heart constantly. You do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

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My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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You don't believe because you're not mine. But what did he just say? I know mine, and I lay my life down for them.

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You don't believe because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and they come, and I give them eternal life, and no one can snatch them out of my hand.

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You might think, maybe the son isn't strong enough. But then he says, and you're in my father's hand, and no one can snatch you out of my father's hand.

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It's as though Jesus gives you this picture of this double -fisted father -son grip of God.

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You're in a hand, and you ain't getting out. How do you like them apples? I love that. That's glorious.

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And you need to fall in love with that. Hey, quickly, again, Acts 13 -44.

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I wanted to show you this to talk about the call of God. And we're wrapping up here. Acts 13 -44.

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I want to show you a really important passage that you need to have marked up in your Bibles. You need to have as a reference point to know what to go to when discussing this subject.

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Acts 13. I'm just going to read it starting in verse 44. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the

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Word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

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And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, watch this, It was necessary that the

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Word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrusted aside and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

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Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles, for so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the

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Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And here we go, guys, ready?

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We talk about the call of God, creating what it commands along this golden chain of redemption.

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Are you ready for this, guys? This is awesome, 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the

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Word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

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As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

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Which comes first? Believing and then being appointed or being appointed and then believing?

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Do you see it? As many as were appointed believed, why? Because the call of God creates what it commands.

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God draws, God grants life, God grants faith, God grants repentance.

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Enemies are turned into friends. Foreigners are turned into sons and daughters.

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Haters of God are turned into lovers of God. Spiritually dead people are raised to newness of life.

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That's the truth of the call of God. That's what God does. One last passage to show you here in Luke 10, 21.

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This is a heavy one. Luke 10, 21, last point here. Luke 10, 21 it says,

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In the same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden.

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Look closely at the text here guys. That you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

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Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. It was God's gracious will to hide this from particular people and give it to little children.

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Think about that. Watch, all things have been handed over to me by my

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Father and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the

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Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

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When we talk about people coming to God, Jesus says, anyone to whom the

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Son chooses to reveal him. This is a work of God. The call of God is part of God's plan of redemption to bring glory to the

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Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father chooses to save, the Son redeems, the Holy Spirit sanctifies, seals and regenerates.

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God's plan of salvation. Okay, wrapping this up, what are we saying? Are you ready? What are we saying?

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Foreknown, what? Predestined, what? Called, what? Justified, then glorified.

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That's the golden chain of redemption. So what are we saying? Ready? When we talk about the call of God, we're talking about God bringing people out of darkness to light.

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We're talking about God bringing people from death to life. Proof of that, Ephesians 2.

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You don't need to go to it now, but read it later. It says, you were dead. What? But God made us alive together with him.

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By grace you've been saved. Dead, who makes alive? God makes alive. What we're talking about with the call of God is

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God bringing dead people to life. Ephesians chapter 2. What are we saying? We're saying that God grants repentance and faith.

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Couple texts, read Ephesians 2. It says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it says this. For by grace you've been saved through faith.

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And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not according to what, guys?

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Works, lest any man should boast. But what does it say? What does it say? Are you ready? By grace you've been saved through faith.

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Okay, we go, got it. Okay, I'm there. Got it, grace and faith. Understand that, Jesus alone, he paid it all, grace and faith.

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Watch this. And that not of yourselves. The that, the word there in the Greek, points to the last things referred to.

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The grace and the faith, not of you. It is the gift of God.

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Yes, even the ability to trust in Jesus is God's gift to you. And if you say, for real?

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Like, seriously? Give me another one. Okay, Philippians 1, 29. Philippians 1, 29, ready?

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It has been granted to you, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake.

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What's gifted to you? Belief and what? Suffering. Granted to you to believe and to suffer.

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Some of you guys are like, I like the first one. He can keep the second one. We're saying

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God grants repentance and faith. Read Acts 11, 15 later. The response of the church to the fact that Peter preached the gospel and the

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Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles and they came to life. The response isn't like, oh, isn't that great?

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The Gentiles now believe. Their response in the church was, I guess God has granted repentance to the

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Gentiles. Oh, they came? I guess God granted them repentance.

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Do you see that? Do we refer to salvation in that way? We ought to. Well, we do here at Apologia because we're real reformed and relevant, right?

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But that's what we do. But the truth is, is that's what we do. God gave me eyes to see. God granted repentance.

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That's how we say it because that's how the early church said it. That's what the Bible teaches. Last thing, 2 Timothy 2, 24 through 26.

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I want you to get the texts. It says the Lord's bondservant must be patient, able to teach in humility, correcting those who oppose themselves if God perhaps will grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.

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Who has to grant repentance? God does. People don't do it on their lonesome. People do it because God raised them to life.

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Last thing, if you want to see a beautiful picture and you can read it later, read John 11, 30.

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And I won't read the whole text. Let me just explain it to you. You can read it later. John 11, verse 30.

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It's famous. Are you ready? And this is it. Hang with us because you'll all get this now. If most of you were like,

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I wasn't getting it sort of there, I'll watch the video. By the way, it's being recorded right now. That's going online.

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What's up, YouTube? We're going to do this. But listen, you've got to catch this because you know it, ready?

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Shortest verse in the whole Bible is in the text. What is that shortest verse? Jesus wept. These are cheesy

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Christian questions that I'm asking right now. You'll be asked these your whole life, so be prepared if you're new to church. Shortest verse in the

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Bible is Jesus wept. That's in this text. Jesus, his friend Lazarus dies.

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His good friend Lazarus dies. Jesus purposely waits four days. He's really dead.

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Four days he goes and when he gets there, everyone's just broken up about this. One of the women comes to Jesus and she basically says to him,

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Jesus, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. I love Jesus' response to her. It's incredible. If you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

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And what does Jesus say to her? I love it. Are you ready? I am the resurrection and the life.

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Don't you love it? He wouldn't have died if you'd have been here. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.

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Does that hit you like it should? He's saying, look who you're talking to. All life is summed up in me.

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I am the resurrection. I am the life. What are you freaking out about? So I am the resurrection and the life.

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And Jesus says, whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Oh, man, that's got to sit well with your soul.

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It has to. If it hasn't, spend a day on a mountaintop, throwing some rocks up at God in this text until God hits you hard with it.

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Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Never. For a believer, it's closing your eyes and opening them up to glory and goodness and God.

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That's what it is. And he says, whoever dies will live.

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You see, whoever's dead will live. That's the truth of the gospel. Jesus is the resurrection and life.

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If you were dead, you'd live. If you're alive, you'd never die. The truth is, because he is the resurrection and the life. If you're in him, you're alive forever.

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But then this is the part where Jesus is now going to the tomb. It says that Jesus wept. Yes, God as man cried over the circumstances of the fall.

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He enters into our pain, and he suffers among us. But I love this because this is a good picture of eternal life.

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And I want you to think for a second of yourself in this situation. If you're a believer in this room today, this is essentially your story.

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Lazarus was a real event in history. It really happened. Jesus really raised a stinking dead man alive.

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But it's really also a story that's being repeated throughout history that God is constantly doing.

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And you're in it. Lazarus, think about it, is so dead, he's stinking dead, that in a

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King James version, when Jesus says, remove the stone, what's the response? He stinketh.

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Right? That's how dead he is. He stinketh. And Jesus tells him to remove the stone.

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And so you've got Lazarus who's stinking dead in the tomb, rotting at this point.

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And he's bound up in burial clothes. He's so dead, he's covered in ointment and burial clothes, dead.

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And he says, remove the stone. And then Jesus prays to the Father. And then he says this,

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Lazarus, come forth. The Son of God calls into a stinking grave of a person who is completely incapable of moving, responding, willing, wanting.

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It's a dead man. No ability, helpless, closed, gone.

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And Jesus says, come forth. And Lazarus doesn't go, hmm. Lazarus is a perfect example of God's call, creating when it commands.

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Because God says, come forth. And Lazarus comes hopping out in grave clothes.

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And Jesus says, what after? He says, like, unwrap him. Unwrap him.

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He says, unbind him, actually. Which is interesting, because Jesus raises dead people. And then he starts to unbind them.

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Did you catch that? That's your story. Raises a dead person, and then says, unbind him.

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Starts to unravel, right? Some of you guys are like, well, hurry up. But that's your story.

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And that's the call of God. Foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified.

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So what? Here's the so what. Grace. We talk about it all the time.

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We put it on bumper stickers. We say it out loud. We put it on t -shirts. But have you really thought about what

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I just said to you? Foreknown, predestined, called. Why are you here today?

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If you're in Christ, because God saved you. And if you're not in Christ today, you haven't turned to him in faith, and you're here today, here's the message

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I have for you. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. Turn from sin to the living

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God and believe. That's a command for every person whoever lives on this earth. You are commanded to turn to God and put your faith in Christ.

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And if you're in this room today, I think you should think about how significant it is that you're in a room hearing a guy telling you about grace and salvation and God coming to rescue sinners.

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Repent and believe. Listen, your whole life, this word, grace, should be constantly flashing before your eyes and in your mind.

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It should be rattling around your ears constantly. Grace, grace, grace. You should walk into your house every day, open the door, and you should go, grace, grace.

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You should look at your bank account. If there's a dollar in it, you should say, grace, because I should be dead. I shouldn't be here.

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I'm a rebel against the king. And if you have one thing in life you fall on, it's this. I know my sheep, and they know me.

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And I give them eternal life. No one can snatch them from my hands. What can separate us from the love of God? Life, death, tribulation, sword, anything, nothing.

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You stand in grace. That's the so what. Now go live.

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Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for this message and your goodness. Thank you for your call that brings us to life.

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Thank you for the gift of eternal life, God. You deserve all the glory and praise, God. We have no boasting.

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Thank you, God, for salvation. In Jesus' name, amen. Hi, King of Heaven, my victory won.

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May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright

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Heaven's sun. Heart of God, still be my vision,