They that are with him are called (Quality: Good)

[0:00] once again in complete dependence upon the Lord for his help I would draw your attention to the book of the revelation chapter 17 and at the last part of verse 14 the book of the revelation chapter 17 the last part of the 14th verse and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful these all these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful we entered a little into the first part of these words and they that are with him are called in our discourse this morning and we spoke of the holy calling that it was the work of the holy spirit and we spoke of the effectual calling that it was that none that are under this calling shall be deaf to that voice that word that exercise in the soul and the effectual calling shall be such that wherever and however the people of God are found and in what depths of iniquity or transgression religious or otherwise the calling will be effectual because it is a separating calling and so we went on in that vein and thought and they that are with him are called but I want to go on a little further respecting the calling and to speak first of all of the sovereignty of the calling the sovereignty of this calling

[2:24] Jacob of I loved we read in the word of God Esau of I hated and that's God's word and how solemn it is to see the sovereignty and yet the sacredness of a sovereign call you may look of course as we said this morning you may take out of the word of truth those examples of an effectual calling a holy calling the work of grace begun in this one and that one and there are some wonderful examples of course of the calling there's remarkable examples of the power of the call and of course of the sovereignty of the call we mentioned but one or two but again the dying thief is an example of the sovereignty of the call as well as the effectual the effectual calling in its teaching and in its power and in its fruit but my friends you don't have to look in the word of God for sovereignty you may look and you may behold as the Lord will reveal it in every one's heart where there is found the work of grace it is divine sovereignty that put it there we spoke of the love in the calling because God loved his people from before time they belonged to Christ before they ever fell and when our first parents fell in the garden and their posterity every one born is born in sin and shaped in iniquity it didn't change the love and it didn't change the choice either and it didn't affect the calling but it made it a vital necessity we tried to speak of the vital necessity of the calling because the effect of it is to bring sinners out of nature's darkness and to possess a living soul a work of divine grace and so on but my friends have you ever stood amazed at the sovereignty of the calling within your own souls within your own souls you may be amazed at the sovereignty of the calling such as Saul of Tarsus and others which whose record is in the scriptures but my friends it comes down to this and it must come down to this why was I made to hear his voice and enter

[5:07] Wilder's room while thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come as we closed our remarks I think this morning it wasn't on grounds of merit but it was on grounds of mercy that this sovereign act this wonderful work this gracious appearance this intervention of almighty God in the souls and the pathways of God's dear people my friends there's a sovereignty in this calling that can never be disputed but we also said respecting the calling that it is a calling that isn't that has no change it's a calling as the scriptures tell us without repentance God never changes his mind once in him in him forever thus the eternal covenant stands none shall pluck thee from the strength of Israel's hand what a wonderful thing it is that none can fall out of the covenant they might fall out with one another they might dispute with one another and so on but they'll never fall out of the covenant they belong to Christ and are sealed and that covenant is sealed in the precious blood of the Redeemer and there again they that are with him are called but I want also to look at this word we spoke this morning we said we would read this afternoon or speak this afternoon of the oppositions to the call and the people of God are each and every one of them are subject to temptations regarding the calling and indeed so often it is and instances such that are brought up under the truth and the Lord in his mercy and sovereignty calls them by divine grace brings them into the family of God and are tried about it whether they've gained their religion by hearsay or they've just as it were come into the knowledge of it because they hear it week after week and month after month and year after year and perhaps they may lose sight of the way in which they were called but my friends that temptation applies to everyone you go back you go back to the book of Ruth and you'll find in the second chapter that

[7:45] Ruth is speaking to Boaz says why have I found grace in thy sight seeing I am but a stranger but a stranger but she found grace in the eyes of God because he loved her from eternity past and he found grace in the eyes of God because of divine sovereignty he found she found grace in the eyes of God because her name was recorded in the Lamb's book of life they that are with him are called and are the subjects of these temptations and I read especially that account in the gospel respecting John the Baptist the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to speak of that honourable man and that well taught man that preacher of righteousness because he was prophesied from before the days of

[8:50] Christ that he should be the forerunner of Christ and we read of him that he was the subjects of grace from his mother's womb but it didn't keep him from temptation he was found still the subjects of temptation you know and here he was because of Herod shut up in a natural prison and also in darkness of his own soul and so he sends this messenger to Jesus Christ art thou he that should come or do we look for another well professors would say well who would expect such a man as John the Baptist a forerunner of Christ one that took him down into Jordan and baptized him by immersion one who had the witness of the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove and alighting upon him and the voice of

[9:53] God which says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased well I'm sure of this that those that are called know in their pathway great blessings have known great times of refreshing days of deliverances sweet times they've heard the word of God from the voice of God from the lips of God himself the Lord has spoke to them and spoke to their souls has brought them out of darkness brought them into joy delivered them from temptations and brought them into the church of Christ it may well be but my friends such are not excluded from the trials of the pathway such are not excluded from the temptations though John was such a favoured character in the church of Christ the forerunner of Christ and so on he wasn't excluded from the temptations and it's left on record in the word of God so to encourage us who follow on that as these souls were in the pathway so they were tried so the pathway of everyone shall be tried but it's the answer that is the blessing you've got a trial now is God trying his work in your soul do you know something about what Peter said in the first chapter of the first epistle though now for a season if needs be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations now you know that path if you're a child of grace will you do what John the Baptist did and though he had those who were followers and hearers of him he sent them to

[11:41] Jesus now that's the place where you'll get the crooked made straight that's where you'll get the confirmations that you desire that's the place where you get assurances as to the way in which you are travelling is the way in which the Lord is these that are called my friends it's no good talking to ministers and I say that very carefully it's no good asking them whether you're a child of grace or not cast that burden amongst all other burdens upon the Lord listen for his voice ask for his approbation his smile am I his you know I know people who find fault with John Newton when he says tis a point I long to know oft it calls his anxious thought do I love the Lord or no am I his or am I not I find no fault without him because that's where the people of God sometimes come to but where does it take them to you know you won't find a professor and I mean these characters who imbibe religion and seem to be full of it and seem to know the answers to every trial and trouble and seem to somewhat evade or bypass everything that sounds like reality and religion you'll never find them troubled about their standing in Christ you'll never find them exercised about their end they go on in that sleepy condition till they fall into the pit but a child of God rests on one thing and that's the rock of ages

[13:20] Jesus Christ and their standing is secure and they want to know it is and the nearer they draw to eternity the greater will be the exercise and John Newton was not a stranger to these temptations delivered by divine grace of course from his old path of slave trading called by grace called into the ministry of the gospel and wrote some of these beautiful hymns so that we shall know that not only us but those who have gone on before are the subjects of these same temptations am I his or am I not could there be anything greater that a child of grace once confirmed that they know they belong to Christ they that are with him are called and are the subjects to these oppositions and hindrances and doubts and fears that Satan implants in the heart and distresses

[14:22] God's people I've never forgot you know and I'll come to the exercises of those of the pathway of the people of God in a moment but I've never forgot that words of Elijah in the first book of Kings you know where for the sins of Israel there was three and a half years of drought where there wasn't rain nor doom and God was about to appear and send rain on the earth and Elijah was to build a altar and to offer sacrifice and so were the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Baal failed as they must do but then what of Elijah as he built the altar according to the word of God and he made it absolutely impossible that anything should happen other than a divine intervention upon that altar but it was his prayer that matters and the first text I ever preached in public was the exercise of my soul after 20 years of exercise over the ministry and I stood in the pulpit that day and I preached from this let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant that I have done all these things at thy word my friends you think after 20 years exercise in the ministry it be like that it would be poured out but my friends

[16:03] I had to know I was right I had to know I was right not in that not in the congregation's view but in God's sight Paul said to Timothy his son in the faith study to show thyself approved unto God and this is where God's people come to whether they are ministers or deacons or whatever part of the service they hold or office they hold in the church of Christ they are the subjects of these temptations and God alone can allay the fears and remove the doubts by appearance for his people like John the Baptist the Lord Jesus said go show John again those things which he do hear and see the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf fear the dead are raised and the poor of the gospel preach to them do you not need confirmations in the way do you not need assurances sometimes that the

[17:12] Lord has begun a work in you my friends we suffer with this sin you know Paul said to the Hebrew church and the sin which does so easily beset us what sin the sin of unbelief but it can be put straight and these times and seasons as John was in prison so the people of God want confirmations of the calling they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful but then I want to come to the pathway of which they are brought to walk a pathway which is singular and personal to every one of them to those who are who minister in the word of God stand upon the walls of Zion to any that hold any part or lot of office in the church of Christ they that are with him are called and chosen and my friends when those who are in these places of responsibility in the church of Christ when God puts them there which is the all important when God puts them there they are called and they are chosen quite often of course it's a tried path quite often very often it's a tried path and I think of those who preach in the name of the Lord

[19:00] Jesus Christ they are called if they are in their right place the apostle Paul speaks of that calling as he separates it in a certain sense from the call by grace and he says this unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ now if they are in their right place that is in the place where God will have them to be they are called to it and are chosen for it they that are with him are called and chosen and so is the pathway and so is the pathway David in the 37th Psalm speaks of the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and you may wonder sometimes when you hear of this particular trial or that particular affliction that comes into the pathway of one and another and you may wonder why my friends they don't it doesn't happen by chance it doesn't happen by chance it's not by accident that they have this trial or this trouble it is part of the calling it is part of the choosing

[20:28] I was looking at Timothy the epistle of Paul to Timothy the other last night and I mentioned this morning about that word who has saved us and called us with an holy calling but it wasn't that so much it was this wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God and so on now the pathways that the Lord's people are calls to walk are pathways in which the choice for them is

[21:29] God's choice and they are called and chosen for that particular path one of the first things that you will notice in the calling and choosing as to the pathway whether it's a pathway of the ministry or whether it's officers in the church of Christ there is another thing which is so absolutely clear abundantly clear in every one of them and that is their insufficiency that's completely evident my friends to those that are in it the Lord doesn't choose those who are in their own capacity able but he proves to them two things Paul was brought to see it and was brought to speak of it as he wrote to the Corinthian church and you find in that account that is the account which is indeed suitable to everyone who has anything to do in the church of

[22:34] Christ in the second epistle in the second chapter he says and who is sufficient for these things and in the third chapter he says not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency of God who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament my friends that's a mark and that's an evidence in the hearts of any that do anything in the house can trace with a humble hope that they are called and chosen to walk in that way that they're insufficient for the burden that God lays on them and they wait upon the Lord and their all sufficiency is in God you find a minister of the gospel it doesn't matter if he's been preaching one year or 31 years there's not a scrap inside of him that helps him along Sunday after Sunday or week night after week night the store is in

[23:36] God the store is in heaven and he draws from that store and he knows that within himself is of no possibility of help within himself but those that are called and those that are chosen by the Lord led into the pathways of this office that office in the church of Christ or even those who are as we would say believers in the church of Christ and are members of his mystical body they are absolutely in dependence upon the God of all grace for everything Paul said to the Philippian church being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ he never calls his people to a pathway as he never calls his people to the pathway of grace but that he is sufficient for all their needs and their every need he will so richly supply they that are with him are called and chosen and the pathway of tribulation is a pathway which is chosen for them a pathway of affliction is a pathway which is chosen for them the pathway of persecution is a pathway that is chosen for them you'd never choose it for yourself now would you my friends but there's some wonderful mercies and there's some wonderful balances that are found and proved in these pathway which the

[25:13] Lord choose when when the apostle Paul was about to die he was about to be put to death by Nero he closes his epistle to Timothy with something my friends which no one else but the grace and nothing else but the grace of God could ever possibly lay it in his heart for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith these and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful but then the end of their journey this dear people this grace taught people this people that God calls effectually by a holy calling but grants them the blessings of his grace and life eternal to come a day my friends just as they are called by the operation of the holy spirit they are blessed with a new birth they come a day when they are called home to glory they that are with him are called and are called out of out of this waste howling wilderness out of a pathway of tribulation they are called out of satan's sieve out of the hindrances of satan out of a weakness of body and mind they are called out of a world that is ruined by sin ah but my friends what are they called to you know the work of grace calls souls out of something out of nature's darkness it calls them into fellowship with the

[27:16] Lord Jesus Christ and with his people there's a separating effect by the call of grace we mentioned Ruth just now she had to leave the parents the land of her nativity but you know grace makes a soul willing to leave these things leave these things nature wouldn't come to leave in it there's no separation work by nature but grace works a separation in the heart entreat me not to leave the order return from following after thee you read those first chapter of the book of Ruth again and you'll see two daughters in law and you'll see two sorrowing daughters in law they both kissed their mother in law but you read afterwards it says but Ruth clave unto her why did she because she was called because she had grace in her soul because she was united to a child of grace what was the prospect of going to

[28:22] Bethlehem absolutely nothing at the time in her opinion the steps of the steps and she was in the race that was set before her and she was in the lineage of Christ but she didn't know that she was brought to follow a dear one back to Bethlehem with absolutely nothing her own the industry of gleaning as she went into the fields of boas was a clear indication of her poverty but my friend she was called and chosen and found amongst the people of God found by grace amongst the people of God not just by providence and that calling gave her that union with God's people and that communion with God's people you read the bond that's in those words entreat me not to leave thee it's a bond that doesn't break and it's a bond that grace has made in the heart and it joins you to the people of

[29:25] God my friends when God says come out from amongst them and be ye separate then grace is needed to do it and it may be that the pathway that God's people used to walk is now the pathway that they don't walk because they're chosen and called called and chosen and are separated by grace from the pathway and they may be separated too from all that was near and dear and they had to leave it behind because they were called and chosen to follow a despised Nazarene we know Paul said that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren and the grace that calls them is the grace that unites them to God's people now I've wandered away from what I was going to say but these dear characters are called ultimately to glory they that are called and chosen and are called to glory in this time state in the calling and in the choice which is

[30:33] God's there is a preparation made there is a preparation there are two preparations you know in the work of divine grace you say two there's one in your heart and there's one in heaven I go Jesus said to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also now that's the place in heaven but the work of grace in the soul the calling the choosing is to this purpose and to this end that that soul is prepared for that place which is prepared for them one of the things which one of the graces that you and I need will be the grace to die but my friends we don't only need the grace to die the psalmist speaks of being delivered from soul trouble in a matter and he ends the psalm and he said thou hast loosed my bonds only grace will loose the bonds because they're very very dear some of them bonds but there are some times when

[31:59] God's people can with the poet's words in their heart be able to say nor would I covet man's esteem but part with all and follow him now the Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary to prepare the place in heaven you say well I thought he went back to glory he did indeed but my friends if he hadn't gone to Calvary there wouldn't be any heaven would there for sinners but in the fullness of time in the covenant of grace and mercy he went to Calvary and at Calvary the deed was done the work was accomplished the covenant was sealed he died that we might live he shed his precious blood that sin might be atoned for and the church of Christ was delivered from the condemnation of their sins and in that he has prepared heaven for his people and they in this time state are prepared for heaven or to leave the hateful ways of sin turn to the fold and enter in but only grace will do that and they that are with him are called and are called from this time state are called then from a body of sin and death are called from a pathway of tribulation or affliction sometimes my friends they're not three score years and ten but thou called nevertheless thou brought home to glory their redeemed soul is to be forever with the

[33:44] Lord and it's a calling and God sends out the call and none could withstand that call a time has come what does the poet says there we shall see his face and never never seen and from the rivers of his grace drink endless pleasures in one afflicted person said to me if we only had a view of heaven we'd long to be there wouldn't we you have a view of heaven it would quicken your desire to be there all the need then of the Lord to in his calling they that are with him are called what a need there is for the bonds to be loosened what a need there is Jesus said in the sermon on the mount he spoke of the treasure that the child of God's got where is it it's in heaven it's where he is that's heaven and these dear souls that are called here below are called one day to that glorious abode to be with

[34:56] Christ they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful but I looked also at the words of the apostle Peter respecting this in the first epistle in the fifth chapter the apostle speaks about the calling there he speaks about the calling of course of those who minister in the word of God feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind but he then speaks of this other calling but the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after he has suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you it's an eternal glory that he calls his people thou shalt see my glory soon when the work of grace is done partner of my throne shalt be say poor sinner lovest thou me my friends that's the prospect that's the prospect in view for

[36:23] God's people or they may know something of sin and salvation here they may know something of the hindrances and temptations of Satan but they'll also know this and this will somewhat encourage them on the way the prospect what God has prepared in Christ for his people what wonderful blessings which are yet to come I believe I believe you know if you could find a soul who was blessed with many blessings here below they're only fractional compared with that which is yet to come they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful and are called to this eternal glory called to be with Christ which is far better called out of this sinful world of evil and darkness and satanic powers but called into the fellowship of Jesus

[37:28] Christ in glory oh that's word we sang we read this morning in the first chapter of this book the revelation the spoke of that which was before his people and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen called to heaven at last they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful we said this morning also it's come back to my mind who these characters were and who are they but poor sinners who are they but unworthy sinners who are they but sinners whose names are put in the

[38:35] Lamb's Book of Life by divine decree and wondrous love my friends they are in the eyes of the world nothing but what are they in the eyes of Jesus Christ you know Peter speaks about the preciousness of Jesus Christ and he speaks about unto you which believe he is precious and isn't he but he ever thought it the other way round how precious a soul must be to Christ now that's not deviating from the scriptures how precious must the church be collectively and one by one personally to Jesus Christ oh he is precious to a believer he's precious in the want of him he's precious in the possession of him but my friends on the other side of that view they are precious to him the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to come lay aside his holy glory in heaven above to come on earth to be clothed in a body like our own and for the purpose of suffering to enter into a pathway of absolute suffering that none of of the precious that his people are to him that rather than lose them he shed his own heart's blood my friends they were on the way to hell every one of them by reason of the

[40:39] Adam fall by reason of their own sins and iniquities that is by their nature but they were saved in the Lord before they were ever born and he went to Calvary to redeem them from the power and the condemnation of the Lord they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful now the last clause and does that trouble it should trouble does that cause concern it should cause concern that the description of the people of God is not only that they are called and chosen but they are faithful faithful now as he as they are precious in his sight as they were called into the fellowship of his son and the people of God and as are chosen from lost mankind not on any grounds of merit and faithful well the apostle

[41:49] Paul we read that in that last chapter in the second of Timothy he spoke he spoke of his impending end it was very soon that he shall lose his life for the Lord Jesus Christ but he speaks also of faithfulness for I have kept or to read it properly where he was to lay down now and to die for the name of the Lord Jesus I have finished I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith he was faithful but was he speaking of some ability of the flesh the man who was by nature a Pharisee and lived and died a Pharisee would have gone to perdition a man whose nature was the nature of a

[42:50] Pharisee but who was called by grace on the Damascus road was that man now speaking of being faithful being one of those who never deviated or stepped out of the way one inch they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful my friends never the Lord's people are brought to heaven not on grounds of merit but on grounds of mercy but they're brought to be faithful and they're taught by the Holy Spirit first of all their unfaithfulness how often you hear the complaints of God's people when they are brought to consider the mercies and goodness of God to their souls and they say in all my unfaithfulness he has proved faithful but my friends they are faithful it's not their old nature that's faithful it's their new nature it's that which is made in the likeness of

[43:57] God and which is a holy calling a blessed new birth that's which is what is faithful it's not their old nature it's not their own mind their old mind or their old heart or their old ways that are faithful there's nothing farther from the truth we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity we're self-righteous we're unrighteous and we're unfaithful by nature but my friends it's the grace and mercy and goodness of God in the new nature that walks the path which is set before us looking unto Jesus oh don't despair because you feel within your own heart your own unfaithfulness my friends if you love the Lord Jesus Christ it isn't an old nature blessing it's a new nature blessing if you love the Lord Jesus Christ and you're following in the way be it a long way off in your feelings it's because you've got another nature that is after Jesus

[45:00] Christ oh the blessings of faithfulness is got nothing to do with old nature because that's completely sin but it's the new nature that wants Christ that is found in the way that finds opposition to the faithfulness that finds these things against them as they would be faithful I believe Peter when he fell in the judgment hall he fell so severely and so sadly in denying his Lord and master with oaths and curses you go back a few steps and you'll find that Peter said I will go with thee even unto death I believe he meant it I believe he meant it my friends but he didn't know his old nature he didn't know how easy it was to fall and be ashamed of Jesus they that are with him these blessed characters these blood washed souls these brands that are plucked from the burning these dear ones to

[46:06] Jesus and those whom Jesus is the one thing needful and the altogether lovely they that are called and they that are with him are called well that is the final prospect then that is the final step of the way here below and to heaven at last they are with him they've seen him by faith here they'll see him face to face in heaven at last he will give grace and glory the psalmist said no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly and those that walk uprightly are not walking uprightly in the flesh they're walking uprightly in the spirit they that are with him and when grace will give place to glory prayer will be will given place to praise and faith will give place to sight and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful amen we'll close by singing hymn number 1050 the tune is st paul's number 62 hymn number 1050 1050 to k

[49:08] Every mortal believer Thy Thank you.

[50:08] You stand in the unsurun' way, and my life will stand there young.

[50:29] O day our sin pours away, The Word of God hears away.

[50:47] Precious reputation, Take me today, And say, of faith, Lord and God.