To Be Chosen By God

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:21 — 43.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Romans 9:22-28

We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country  103.7 FM just after 8am. The Scriptures teach many are called but few are chosen. The greatest invitation any person can receive is to be called by God to be one of His adopted children. Does your salvation experience still cause you to be amazed? Do you have a salvation experience so you can be amazed? Author J. I. Packer defines the call of God as “God summoning men by His Word, laying hold of them by His power to play a part in and enjoy the benefits of His gracious redemptive purpose.” Of all the definitions I’ve ever read this one stands out as most arresting. Just think about what Packer says. It is amazing. He shares four truths with us we need to consider.

1. GOD SUMMONS/CALLS MEN! It could be said that if you don’t get this first truth, nothing else matters. Ponder this statement – “God called me.” Say that over and over to yourself until your heart leaps out of your chest! Read Gen. 3:8-9. Just like God went looking for Adam and Eve, He came looking for you. Notice God came looking for you while you were still a sinner hiding from Him. Not only that God called you by name. He wanted YOU, personally! While you are thinking about the fact that God called you, think about this: if God didn’t come to get you, you would never go looking for Him! Sin won’t allow it. The second truth is
2. GOD CALLS MEN BY HIS WORD! Almost every book of Scripture records that God spoke directly to, or directly through His chosen messenger. Read Isa. 55:8-11 and Rom. 10:8-17 for starters. We must understand that God speaks to all people first and foremost through His inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. He uses other ways in conjunction, but He always speaks first through His Word. That truth is the reason we who call ourselves Christians must be reading, studying, memorizing His Word daily. We can’t effectively live the Christian life, if we don’t let God speak to us daily to lead us.
3. GOD CALLS MEN WITH HIS POWER!  Read Heb. 1:3 as a reference, then use your concordance for further study. The point is this; God’s power is often displayed visibly through His spoken word. Notice He holds all things into being by the power of His Word, not the word of His power. Are you beginning to see why daily time in the Bible is so important if you want to hear God speak? Finally,
4. GOD CALLS MEN ON PURPOSE FOR A PURPOSE!  God never experiments on us. J. I. Packer says, “God’s call to men has reason.” As stated earlier, part of that reason is to play a part in God’s redemptive purposes. One of the most visible ways God shows the unsaved His redemption really works, is through the radically changed life of a person who “gets it” concerning the call of God. When the unsaved watch a person change because of salvation, God uses that change as a powerful message and witness to call others to salvation. It is astounding that God uses us as His redeemed to help the unsaved come to Him. There is no higher or holier calling.

If we can help you answer your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.