Acts (Quality: Good)

[0:00] Thank you.

[0:30] Thank you.

[1:00] Let us your attention to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2 and verse 39.

[1:37] And as many as the Lord our God shall call. It is the blessed operation and influence of the Holy Spirit that we are trying to speak of this morning.

[1:58] And as many as the Holy Spirit were only influenced by what they have drunk.

[2:35] And these men are full of new wine.

[3:08] And to your children, to all that are of foe. We must remember too that the Lord has here through his servants speaking to the Jewish nation.

[3:23] That nation of which the Lord has placed his name. But it is also to remember that it is in Zion that he has placed his name.

[3:37] And it is there that his presence will be felt and known. And he says,

[4:41] And it is in doctrine and articles and so on. And being brought up amongst the strict Baptists. My friends, it is not the evidence of grace. Great mercy if you have got godly parents.

[4:53] And may the prayers of those godly parents be heard. But where the promise is to be found. And where the day of blessing will be found.

[5:04] It is, my friends, according to God's divine purposes and will. And the promise is unto you and to your children. And that's where it is according to the holy will and purposes of God from all eternity.

[5:21] That he'll have a people for his praise here below. Though they are wretched in themselves, sons of Adam. Convinced of sin and led of the spirit into the truth concerning not only their own need of salvation.

[5:37] But in the possession of that salvation. Great mercy, my friends, if you need mercy. If you had to pray for mercy. And we said that this morning.

[5:49] That good man who went to the temple to pray, prayed for mercy. And we tried to explain the simplicity of such a desire that the Lord had already had mercy.

[6:00] That he should need mercy. But we must go on to say this also. It is in the unfolding of that mercy. And the revealing of the blessings which are in that mercy.

[6:13] I tried to say once at home. I tried to explain and I was lost for words. My friends, I couldn't explain what consisted, what could be found in that word mercy.

[6:27] Oh, I said, you consider the Lord teaching what you shall find in that word mercy. What is it constituted? What is to be found in that word mercy?

[6:39] And then it came to me like this, you know. After a day or two, I came back and I said, This is mercy, Jesus Christ. That's mercy.

[6:52] And all his love and all his favour and all his compassion, his precious blood is mercy, his offering is mercy, his sacrifice is mercy, his death and his resurrection is mercy.

[7:08] My friends, everything that could be contained in that little word mercy is that glorious head of grace, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, where the promise is then?

[7:20] And according to the will and purposes of God, my friends, we may truly seek that this mercy may be found. If you have children, my friends, if you've got relations, if you've got loved ones, you'll pray the Lord if you've got grace, that they may be the subjects of that grace.

[7:40] And they may come under that promise, which I said was connected to the text, and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.

[7:52] For the promise is unto you and to your children, and then to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

[8:08] You know, we spoke this morning of that day when the children of Israel were visited with the judgments of God upon them.

[8:22] They were bitten by fiery serpents. And as we said this morning, I don't want to go over it too much, but Moses, the servant of God, raised a serpent of brass according to instruction, and they that looked, they lived.

[8:40] We said that there were some of them, there must have been, that were afar off, as it were, not in the front row of Israel, not in the second row, but perhaps at the end of the multitude of the Israelites that were bitten.

[8:57] There must have been someone or those that were afar off, as it were, from the very presence of that brazen serpent. But you see, the promise wasn't to those that were near it.

[9:10] The promise was found, and the healing virtue was given to those that looked, and they looked towards it, to all that are afar off.

[9:22] But then you see that is descriptive of the people of God in divine teaching. Going back to the publican's description, my friends, he could not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.

[9:41] He was afar off. He couldn't crawl near. He couldn't accompany those that were Pharisees. He wasn't one of them, but he was an afar off sinner.

[9:53] And you see, distance, my friends, in spiritual things must be, as it were, compared to what causes the distance.

[10:04] But your sins and your iniquities have separated you from your God. My friends, there's a distance. Remember that parable. No, it isn't a parable.

[10:17] Remember that word of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, of the rich man of Lazarus. And Abraham said, and between us and you is a great gulf fixed.

[10:31] And that's the gulf of sovereign mercy and sovereign grace. That's a gulf that was fixed for all eternity between the righteous and the wicked.

[10:41] And it will never be overcome only by grace. To all that are afar off, my friends, I don't know whether you always feel in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

[10:53] I would doubt whether you always do. Do you feel afar off? You see, the desire of the people of God is to be amongst the people of God.

[11:05] The desire of the people of God is to be like the people of God. There were two women, in the book of Ruth, there was the handmaiden of the Lord and Naomi's daughter-in-law, Ruth, and there was her sister-in-law.

[11:27] What did we read about these two? They were both Moabites. They were both daughters-in-law. They were both widows, having lost their husbands.

[11:40] All-power kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. That's grace, my friends. That's grace. There was an afar-offness that divine will and purposes of God calls.

[11:59] There was a goal fixed that all-power never crossed. She had the affection, of course she did have the affection, for her mother-in-law, the widowed Naomi.

[12:12] But she hadn't got the desire or the grace to cleave unto her. Now, my friends, and it's strange teaching, but it's true nevertheless, my friends, that sin that is made known to you, iniquity that you have been brought to feel and grown under, and mourn over, my friends, is this, that you'll feel afar off from the children of God.

[12:39] Those who know the early days of spiritual teaching, my friends, will know the truth, the wife said. And that's why we can sing that lovely hymn, I love to meet among them now, and at thy gracious feet, the bell, though vilest of them all.

[13:00] My friends, there isn't a afar-offness that a child of God feels to be. David said, when he was harassed and chased and persecuted by Saul, there was an afar-offness in his feelings.

[13:18] He said, one day I shall fall by the hand of Saul. One day, my friends, he never did, and neither will the children of God to all that are afar-off that promises unto you and to your children and to all that are afar-off.

[13:35] And sin will make you afar-off. And it may be that one or more is what will understand this word too, my friends, the barrenness of your soul, the abject poverty of your spiritual condition.

[13:54] The Holy Spirit, my friends, will teach you by hard things and you will feel the far-off. you would rejoice in the blessing of his grace, but you feel the far-off.

[14:08] You would be one with the children of God in spiritual attainments and possessions, but you feel the far-off. Your natural heart is full of sin, full of enmity, and full of rebelliousness, and the more you're left to your own natural conditions, my friends, the far-off you seem to feel from the blessing.

[14:29] I don't know, my friends, I can only preach according to what I was taught. And I was taught this, I could never understand. At one stage, I saw the people of God, I wished I was among them, I envied their place and their condition, they looked holy people.

[14:48] I didn't know, of course, that their old nature was just the same as mine. But I couldn't see nor understand, nor could I believe, how it could be that such a soul, such as I was, could ever be found in union or communion with God's people.

[15:07] My friends, by the wickedness of my nature, I was a far-off. And so you and I are still by our own nature a far-off. But, oh, my friends, as that poet said, are but for free and sovereign grace.

[15:22] My friends, you would have stayed a far-off. Let me just remind you of what the Lord Jesus, what the Apostle wrote, rather, concerning those that were a far-off.

[15:38] Or felt them to be. You remember, in chapter 2 of the Ephesians, that chapter on grace, as we might put it. You know, he said this, and I've often looked at this word and perhaps read it more times, that at that time, oh, we'll go back a moment to a verse, wherefore remember you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, and that's the church of Christ in its unregenerate condition.

[16:25] do we leave it there, my friends, do we leave it there? But you see what the next verse says, but now, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for the promise is unto you and to your children, to all that are far off.

[16:52] we spoke of the Holy Spirit's work and that's what this promise is, you know. We spoke of the Holy Spirit's work this morning in convincing of sin.

[17:04] We spoke of, and we used Jesus Christ's own words. He shall teach you all things and will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've spoken unto you.

[17:17] And again, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Now, that rich man in hell, you know, my friends, was there for all eternity.

[17:31] because there's a great goal fixed. It's a very solemn account. I've often thought about it, those words.

[17:42] There's a great goal fixed. And it says, doesn't it, to the, what is it, the wise man wrote, as a tree falls, so shall it lie.

[17:55] Now then, about these that are far off by divine teaching. What will bring them nigh? You know, sometimes the Lord's people get into, and get influenced, as it were, by a snare.

[18:13] A snare of Satan. And he puts them into a state of captivity. They can't in any way remove themselves out of that captivity.

[18:28] they're under a snare. And they feel as if they've been indeed out of the covenant of divine mercy and grace to all that are afoul.

[18:43] Well, the Lord knows, my friends, how to bring you and I nigh. The Lord knows how to break a stubborn spirit. The Lord knows, my friends, how to bring the wanderer back to all that are afar off.

[19:01] We quoted this morning from Luke's gospel about the prodigal. Went out with a high hand, spent his services in riotous living, but when he began to be in want, my friends, he was as far from his father's house.

[19:18] But you see the influence of that want. No man gave unto him. There was only one place he must come to, but it's a place of repentance, it's a place of confession, and that's where that good man was found.

[19:33] I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight are no more worthy to be called thy son.

[19:46] My friends, restoring grace there is in the covenant, you know. Restoring grace. Restore unto the joy of thy salvation.

[19:56] Uphold me with thy free spirit, David said in Psalm 51. And he should know what it was to be separated by sin. And so do I, and so do you if you fear God.

[20:09] To all that are far off, the promises unto you that are far off, doesn't alter the validity of the promise, he doesn't remove the promise, neither does he take away that which is included within that promise.

[20:25] Oh, do you not cry, do you not sometimes cry in before the Lord in secret what the hymn writer said, where he said, concerning that restoring, that reviving.

[20:42] My friends, the hymn writer's words, the Lord bring them to my mind and I will repeat them. But you see, my friends, these are sinners by grace to all that are afar off.

[20:58] That is by divine teaching and by their own wicked sinful heart and ways. You get to near the world tomorrow, you that go to the world, my friends, it will put you afar off.

[21:13] It will indeed, you imbibe the world more than you need to be. My friends, you will have it, you will have your conscience smote because you are far off by sin.

[21:28] The promise is unto you. What's the promise here? What's the Spirit's promise? What is the Spirit recorded of that which will bring a sinner nigh unto God?

[21:39] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. that's what the Holy Spirit is recorded in Holy Scriptures.

[21:54] My friends, it will bring you to that place at the foot of Christ's cross. In repentance and confession, you'll feel the fall, and you'll wonder whether you'll ever be received back into the communion with Jesus Christ as you've known.

[22:13] Repentance and confession will bring you back. a broken heart and a contrite spirit will bring you back. My friends, and that's God's work and it's God's work alone.

[22:25] The promise is unto you and to your children, to all that are afar off. Separated as sin does separate. Knowing solemnly, my friends, and it is solemn, the hiding of his face, the withdrawing of his felt presence.

[22:42] presence. Oh, you that know trouble and affliction, my friends, you've grown in the thought that it is, I have to say this before you, you know, when you're under trial or trouble and affliction or something of that sort, and the Lord draws near very graciously, you know, you fear what it is to come out of those times, and the Lord hides his face or withdraws his felt presence.

[23:13] I knew an old deacon at Forest Fold years ago, and he had an eye operation, he had slit retinas, and in those days, of course, things have gone on differently now, but you have to lay on your back for two weeks without moving.

[23:34] They fed you, they washed you, they did everything for you, because you didn't move in case those delicate stitches would break, and then, of course, the damage would be done.

[23:46] And I said to him, well, how did you manage to lay on your back two weeks? What patience you must have had. And he looked at me and he said, if I had the blessing nailed that I had then, I'll go back and have it done again.

[24:00] My friends, that was the grace of God in that man's soul. Now, to you, to all that are afoul, his grace restoring grace, his love, you know, reaches out, and I don't say that like a free winner does.

[24:18] My friends, which you will bless God for his love. And we quoted this morning as we sat down, glory to God, they ne'er shall roam beyond the limits of his love.

[24:28] fenced by Jehovah's shells and wheels, firm as the everlasting hills. To all that are afoul, whatever means, whatever way, the heightens of his face, his sinful heart and inclinations, your worldly principles, my friends, the child of God that puts his hand to the world, that is in a way that he has no need to do so.

[24:55] My friends, we'll know what it is to be afoul. Oh, how we hide out the Lord withdraws from his people. But you see, the mercy is he doesn't withdraw his grace.

[25:08] He doesn't withdraw his love. He may withdraw his presence. I thought sometimes what depths of sorrow there must have been in the heart of Jesus, heart of Jesus Christ, you know.

[25:23] He stood in the sinner's place. He stood surety for them. He stood as their substitute. And he had upon himself the sorrow and the hidings of his father's face.

[25:38] My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was, as it were, in his children's place. A far old. God cannot look on sin.

[25:51] So he hid his face from his holy son. God, my friends, and he was made sin for us who knew no sin. Now, my friends, you have some little evidence or illustration there, surely, my friends, what it is to be afar off.

[26:09] But it hasn't altered the promise. And it cannot alter the promise. for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar.

[26:22] That is in a spiritual condition. It could be said, and it would be right to say, my friends, that the Holy Spirit instructed Peter to say these words concerning the future generations of the Church of Christ.

[26:40] Now, at this time, they were, of course, in that place where they were preaching to the Jews. Now, if I've got the chapter right in my mind, that, yes, chapter 13 of the Acts, we read the Apostles' sermon there and concerning the preaching of Antioch.

[27:13] But if we read these words, the next Sabbath day came, almost a whole city came all together, the whole city together to hear the word of God.

[27:24] And when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spoken against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Gentiles, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you.

[27:42] But seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles. My friends, there you see the oneness and the union of the church of Christ, Jew and Gentile.

[27:57] to all that are affold, the day will come when the Gentiles will be found in the church of Christ, engrafted in, as the scriptures tell us, to all that are affold, to the end of time, my friends, the promise remains, abides, and will be fulfilled to the last vessel of mercy, shall be revealed as the subjects of his mercy.

[28:28] My friends, time, to the very end of time, this word will be honoured, completed, and settled, the promises unto you and to your children, to all that are affold.

[28:41] When this for this being stabbering tongue lies silent in the grave, you see there will be a generation following, while the earth remaineth, that shall be found raised up in the church of Christ, to you, to all that are far off.

[28:58] Not only to those who were listening to him then, my friends, but right to the end of time, God will have a people on this earth, who will be the subjects of his grace, will therefore be the subjects of this promise.

[29:15] For the promise is unto you and to your children, to all that are up far off. when I came to think, to look at these words earlier this morning, oh that the Holy Spirit may apply these words.

[29:34] You know, they are blessed words, the Holy Spirit taught, the Apostles a preacher of righteousness, and our sacred truths that these dear Apostles have left on record, they are words from God.

[29:52] He was no more as Haggai was the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message, but what a message, the promises unto you and to your children, oh that the Holy Ghost will apply these words.

[30:07] My friends, wherever you stand, you and to your children, to all that are up far off, according to his divine sovereign will and purpose, this isn't universal salvation, my friends, it is the revealing of the will of God, this is the mind of God coming to pass, this is all those who are his, all thy children, all those that are Christ's, but we must go on to all that are up far, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, you know, sometimes you hear that the gospel is unconditional, and sometimes you can look at these words and say there is a condition laid down, my friends, and that is this, this is the condition, even as the Lord our God shall call, you know, that's a wonderful mercy, what did the apostle write to the church at Corinth, simple words, but my friends, great words, and if he spoke to you in the silent watches of your night, as you lay awake in your bed, if he spoke to you in his house, if he spoke to you as you go about your dealings in this world tomorrow, and if he said this, for ye see your calling, do you?

[31:43] My friends, you would desire to do so if you were gracious, to see your calling, you know, thousands and thousands of pounds are spent, my friends, to get somebody a calling, this vast expenditure of money upon education, to get someone a calling, you know, you can, wherever you go, my friends, people have their calling, they will say this is their profession, this is their occupation, this is what they were called to do, and some of them, and may I say most of them, I suppose, we would view as very honourable calling, but how many are concerned with the calling that is mentioned here in the first chapter of the first of the Corinthians, your calling, calling, and God has called, the influence of the Holy

[32:45] Spirit has called, to all that are afoul, even as many, and that's a number that no man can number, it's no good you looking at the strict Baptists and saying that's where those who occupy heaven will come from, my friends, the Church of Christ will come from all nations, kindred and tongue, not all denominations, will come from all nations, kindred and tongue, but that they shall have this seal upon their religion, this seal upon their spiritual pathway, they were called to it, and they were called out, as well as they were called in.

[33:24] There's a word that I remember many years ago, preaching from it, in chapter six of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, and you know what Deuteronomy was, was a book where Moses often rehearsed the dealings of God in the pathway of the Israelites from Goshen to the moment they come to in the book of Deuteronomy, and we have a word there which is obvious about the calling as far as Israel was concerned in the movement from Goshen, but we have a word which could rightly interpret, my friends, the dealings of God in sovereign grace.

[34:16] And when the sovereign grace of God begins to work in a man's soul, or a person's soul, you know that's the calling. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swear unto our fathers.

[34:37] That's what Moses said. He brought us out from that that he might bring us in. That's the calling, child of grace. As many, even as many, as the Lord our God shall call.

[34:55] And isn't the sovereignty of God seen in the calling, remarkable sovereignty of God. Well, yes, you can say, look at Saul of Tarsus, look at you, sinner, look at you.

[35:09] Oh, I didn't go around persecuting God's people. I didn't hail them to prison and to death, whether they be male or female. I didn't do things like that.

[35:21] My friends, the same calling is necessary, and the same calling will have this stunt upon it, sovereignty. divine sovereignty will be called.

[35:34] Did you want to go to heaven? Did you ask to go to heaven? Did you ask to be put in amongst the people of God? Did you look for that day when you might sit down at the table of the Lord with them?

[35:47] My friends, if you had living desires, you had to be a living soul. God, you see, what did that man say here on Wednesday?

[36:00] The law of Moses said, do this and live. But grace says, live and do this, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

[36:17] Wonderful, you know. I don't know about you. I can tell you honestly before God that he's my witness. I can't boast, my friends, of great attainments. But I hope and believe I can humbly say there was a calling.

[36:32] Some people have distinct callings. Certain days, hours, I'm sure Saul of Tarsus, as he did, three times I think, or twice at least, he repeated his call by grace before the persecutors.

[36:49] Now, not all have that clear lean-in, my friend, but I tell you something, everyone has a clear calling. Everyone. They don't have that clear lean-ins from the state and condition of the ruin of the fall, of the unregenerate state they were born in.

[37:09] They don't all have that clear cut moment of the time or the day, but you see that all come under that divine calling that are going to glory. It's not whether you want to go with Jesus Christ, my friends, that's not the calling.

[37:26] It's not whether you take up with these that go to church and chapel, my friends, it's the Lord's work and it's a calling. And if he didn't call, you and I would die in our sins.

[37:39] But that calling is grace in the soul, the influence of the holy God's, that change of heart, that turning of the feet to Zion's hill, as the poet says.

[37:54] Oh, what a blessed day that was when the call, and I tell you something, it's an effectual calling. I often say, you know, I say it with celebrity and deep regret, you know, some of us are sat under the truth, especially in our younger days, we realised that there was something we didn't understand, and we didn't want to understand.

[38:19] We sat under the most serious and solemn preaching there could be, my friends, and none of the preaching had any effect upon a ruined, lost soul, you know, and none of it ever will.

[38:34] Till the Lord puts his hand to the work, and then that's an effectual calling. David sinned, you know, when he committed murder and adultery, and he had such a hard heart, you know, that he couldn't see it.

[38:53] He made no impression upon his spirit, so he could sin without any regret. You see, and so it went on, till Nathan the prophet was sent of God, and he rehearses before David that, little parable about the poor man of little ewe land, and oh, how indignant did David rise.

[39:18] What he was going to do with it, what he wanted from him before he killed him. He wanted that land to be replaced fourfold, wasn't it? Thou art the man, my friends, and that's effectual, and that's the calling.

[39:35] humility. You know, you can always speak against other people, you can always pick thoughts in their walk and in their pathway, you can always pick them up on something they've said, you can always say, well, fancy that from somebody who has professed to walk in the ways of God, my friends, the calling will bring you and I to this place.

[39:59] and that's humility. That's humility. My friends, you won't throw stones at anyone else.

[40:11] You won't pick up stones and throw to somebody because he's done something you haven't done. Not, you see, the point, my friends, is this, it's an effectual calling, and it will bring humility in it, it will bring confession in it, it will bring repentance in it, but it's a calling unto life, not unto death.

[40:30] You see, your calling, brethren, not many righteous, not many noble are called, and who are they that are called? And it says the poor, that doesn't mean the poor financially so.

[40:43] My friends, it's sinners made poor by the calling, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Don't be the subjects of this promise, the Holy Ghost, that's what this promise is, the work of grace, and all the saving effect of that gospel of Jesus Christ, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

[41:08] My friends, as I said, he's factually called, he stops them in their wild career, a miracle of grace I stand, the Lord has taught my heart to fear, that's what will come from the calling.

[41:23] We spoke to Ruth and Naomi just a moment ago, my friends, what she said to Naomi will determine the calling. Intrigue me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, where thou lodgest, I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.

[41:47] That's the effect of the calling, that's the effect of the grace, you've heard of the fruit of grace, my friends, that's the fruit of grace, to be with the people of God, to be amongst them, to learn their language, to serve their God, and to walk in their ways, and to walk in the way which leadeth unto life, that narrow way, and which, my friends, has an eternal happiness in it, and which shall be entered into in the fullness of time, to all that are forth, even as many, as the Lord, and I say again, my friends, unlikely creatures, would you sit next to Saul of Tarsus, would you believe that him, you know, I'll tell you a story, this is absolutely true, I don't tell stories, very seldom do I illustrate it, and Jehovah's witness said to me one day, would you think that God saw something good in Saul of Tarsus,

[42:51] I said, you know, I talked to them people he put in prison, and I said, I said, he was as black as a soul as you and I are, so what did you say, so what do you reckon it was then, I said, sovereign grace, that's what it was, but I don't know whether I believe what you say, I said, I don't mind what you believe or not, I said, but it certainly wasn't because of any good in him, my friends, and it doesn't apply to any, that are the subjects of the calling, they're not called because they're any better than someone else, according to the sovereign will and purposes of God, my friends, those who will inhabit eternity and sing his praises in glory, forever and ever, my friends, are sinners saved by grace, you see, what else are they going to praise him for, what else are they going to praise him for, they can't praise him for their goodness here below, they can't say,

[43:52] I thank God I'm not as other men are, my friends, the calling will reveal that you're worse than other men are, it's only the sovereign mercy and grace of God, it's only his precious blood of his dear son, it's only his love to poor sinners, it's only the fulfilment of the promises that puts grace and mercy in the soul of the people of God, otherwise they'll all be consigned to the pit, but I'll sing his praises, can you look, my friends, can you consider for a moment, my friends, what the song of the redeemed will sound like, I know the poet says, but loudest of the crowd are seen, and heavens resound in mansions ring with shouts of sovereign grace, but you see, my friends, we know what the song of the redeemed is, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him that has loved us, and has washed us from our sin in his own blood, that's the song of the redeemed, now, black sinners, how deserving sinners, far off sinners, and such characters as the

[45:14] Lord our God will call, will join in that everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, you see, there's such a solemn effect, you know, amongst religious people, you see, it's, they want to influence the fresh to do something spiritual, well it never could, and it never will, but that's what they go there, that's what they seem to rest upon, what they can do themselves, what they can bring to pass with the Lord's help, they will say, there's something spiritual, that will remind, my friends, oh this is the blessing, go back to the beginning, go back to those days of calling, go back to, and see the hand of the Lord, that is the calling my friends, if you put your hand to the calling it's marred, but if

[46:20] God puts his hand to the calling it's perfect, and it's perfect timing, and it comes my friends too, that it can never be changed, it's an all trouble, you know, it's said of Jesus Christ, he is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, my friends, so is the new creation, so is the work of grace, it cannot be changed, who once he loves, he never leaves, I like the words of the Lord Jesus, you know, I know I quote hymns, but go back to the days of Christ, you know, he said this, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, my friends, that's the calling, that's the seek after, that's what you want to get established in your own soul, you seeking, desiring, hungry, longing souls, my friends, you can't alter eternal blessings, you can't change eternal mercies, and the mind of

[47:26] God is not returning, my friends, it is this, it's a calling that comes from our God, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, well, it is to those who shall be the subject of this promise, and everything that has been contained in it, my friends, I hope and pray the Lord will so exercise each of our soul that we may seek to be confirmed, and indeed blessed with this gracious interest into this promise, the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, you see where the Lord works, my friends, circumstances were altered, past iniquities won't change, I've often wondered at the mercy of God, you know, we can be offended by someone, and we say, well, that's it, you know, that's the end of a friendship, my friends, the Lord doesn't work like men do, you see, to all that are far off,

[48:42] Peter falls to thee like Peter and would faint like Peter weep, my friends, who would have heard Peter back in the fold, what, denied his Lord and Master with oaths and curses, somebody said, you know, you know, you sound religious, so immediately he turned around and cursed and swore, that he didn't know him, how close he came, my friends, to that sin that cannot be forgiven.

[49:18] But you see, go tell my disciples and Peter. And again he said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

[49:32] Three times, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

[49:50] And one more thing, my friends, you may think that you've got somebody on your heart that is afar off. And it may be your temptation, Satan will tempt you, and he'll tempt you, you know, where grace...

[50:06] If you're under the influence of the power of the tempter over someone that you love, but he's gone too far, my friends, be sure that Satan would have said it if it wasn't under this promise.

[50:23] If Satan would have said to you, in effect that you know that person's gone too far, my friends, I believe I could humbly say he's a child of grace, that soul is.

[50:39] Because he'll never say that of his own. To all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Amen.

[50:50] Amen. Amen.