The Called by Dr. Steven J. Lawson

The Judgment, Mercy and Grace of God!

There are some Christians who cannot accept and will not accept that the Bible teaches that God chose only to give His Son for an Elect people and not for all people—that comes from having a view of God that because God is love, God has to give His Son for every individual who has ever lived. But you have to answer the question, why does God have to give His Son for every individual who has ever lived—God is not obliged to give His Son to anyone—if God wants to give His Son for only one person, God is righteous to do so—God has that right to do that. God does not owe anybody anything except judgment and an eternity in hell for the sins we have committed against Him. No one can demand salvation from God—we do not have that right, for the Bible says in Romans 3:23 LITV, for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is why it is called grace.  

So you see that salvation is by God’s mercy and grace in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—for His took the judgment of God for those who will put their faith in Him—it is a gift from God’s gracious hand. God has the right to whom He wants to by the good pleasure of His will to provide that gift of His mercy and grace to save them and to bring them into His family and make them sons and daughters of God. 

You might say that is not fair—why do you say that, for those whom Christ did not die for, they will continue to wilfully reject him as Lord and Saviour and they will receive what they deserve as a Christ rejecter, not mercy and grace but judgment and eternity in hell—they are only getting what they deserve—they are receiving their wages for their sin, For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a LITV). God is not be unloving when He passes over someone, no, He is a righteous and holy God who must judge them who reject Christ—God is love, absolutely, which means that God loves that which is right and holy and good, thus he must punish sinners who die in their sins without the Lord Jesus Christ—but for them whom God extended His love to by his mercy and grace through and in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, are loved by God in His Son, for Christ took their sins for them on the Cross and paid their sin debt in full and was buried and rose from the dead for their justification—they have been clothed in His righteousness.

If you are not a true believer in Christ, God commands you to repent and come to faith in Christ (see Acts 17:30-31)—if you disobey and continue rejecting Him, then there is no mercy or grace after death, only judgment, for the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 LITV, And as it is reserved to men once to die, and after this judgment. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do, it is because of the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and if you do not, it is because you wilfully reject Him. 

Only Boast in God!

The Lord Jesus Christ says,  "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one coming to Me I will in no way cast out." (John 6:37 LITV)- The Lord Jesus Christ said that. In Ephesians 1:4 LITV the Bible says, "according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love." The Bible says that Jesus came to save His people from their sins-Matthew 1:21 LITV, "And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."- Notice what the Bible says, "His people"- that is very specific- "His people." That is why Jesus came, to accomplish the salvation of His people- John 6:39 LITV, "And this is the will of the Father sending Me, that of all that He has given Me, I shall not lose any of it, but shall raise it up in the last day." 

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John 10:26-28, "But you do not believe for you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish to the age, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand."

A man comes to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because it is the result of the regenerating work of God- The Bible says in John 3:3 LITV, "Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."- John 3:5 LITV, "Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God."

God is very clear in His Word, He is in complete control of salvation- Man has nothing to boast about himself- only to boast in God. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 LITV, "For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that not anyone should boast."

Husband and Wife are One Flesh

“But answering, He said to them, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning "created them male and female"? And He said, "For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mat 19:4-6, LITV)

Marriage is a special relationship from God, which is between one man and one woman. Husband and wife always need each other because they are husband and wife-they are never separate. The Lord Jesus Christ says that husband and wife are one flesh-God sees them as one, not two, but joined together as one flesh. The husband belongs to the wife, and the wife belongs to the husband. The Bible says, “The wife does not have authority of her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.” (1Cor 7:4, LITV)

Marriage is a unique and special relationship from the Lord. There is no other relationship on this earth where two become one flesh-only the relationship of husband and wife.

Husband and wife are never independent from each other, just like the head is never independent from the body. The head needs the body, and the body needs the head. You can never separate them, they need each other. The same for husband and wife-they always need each other.

Husband and wife are to love each other and cultivate that love for each other, and work together in the roles they have been given by God taught in the Bible- the husband as the head of his wife (Ephesians 5:22-23), and the wife as the helper to her husband (Genesis 2:18). They are to function in a way which pleases God, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. Fearing Comforted (part of the sermon) by C. H. Spurgeon

Prayerful not Fearful

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6 LITV, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and by petition with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known to God.’

What are we to pray? The Bible says, ‘by prayer and by petition.’  Petition can be defined as praying to God about something specific in Christ Jesus. The Lord God commands His people for their good for specific prayers to be made known to Him. When it says, ‘known to Him’, it does not mean God does not know, and we must inform Him, so He can know—obviously it does not mean that.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:8 LITV, ‘Then do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.’ What the Bible is saying in Philippians, the Father wants to hear these things from His people—He wants to know them from them. God wants us to depend on Him, recognizing He is our God, our Heavenly Father, who provides our every need, every time. Everything we have which is good, has come from the Lord’s hands—We receive nothing good, unless it is by the will of God, and from His good hand. We are to rely on Him. Of course, God uses means, absolutely, but as we live for Him according to the Word of God, we are not to be anxious, but come to our Lord and trust Him, stand on His word, and have peace in Christ.

Notice Paul wrote, ‘Let your requests be made known to God.’ What does Paul the apostle mean? The word, ‘request’, refers to the specific details of the petition. In our prayers, we bring our petitions to God—His people are to pray a specific thing to God, and then pray about the details of that specific thing—the specific details about that petition.

For example, Let us go Ephesians 1:16-23, and we can see Paul do exactly this. Paul the apostle prays, v. 16 LITV, ‘I also do not cease giving thanks on your behalf, making mention of you in my prayers’, then we see his petition, a specific prayer in v. 17,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,

Then we see the request, the details of the petition, v. 18, ‘the eyes of your mind having been enlightened, for you to know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’, and he continues after v. 18. This is how we are to pray—commanded by the Lord in Philippians 4.

Now, there is another aspect of prayer, and that is thanksgivings. Very important aspect of prayer. Notice what Paul wrote, ‘but in everything by prayer and petitions with thanksgivings, let you request be made known to God.’ This is an expression of thanks or gratitude for all the things the Lord has done for us and is doing. It is thankfulness from the heart for His mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus. The Greek word holds thanksgiving in the upmost importance. This thankfulness will guard our hearts from whining and complaining before the Lord. All that we have comes from the Lord, we do not deserve anything, but because of His love for us, He has given to us the greatest and most precious gift of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. His people would have to admit, there is always something to give thanks to God for, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and all we have received in Him. We are to give thanks to God, because without the mercy and grace of God, we would not have Christ. His people are to be thankful to God in Christ Jesus, for all our spiritual and temporal blessings.

Another scripture, we see that it is God will for us to be thankful to Him in Christ Jesus. 1Thessalonians 5:18 LITV, ‘In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.’ Notice the apostle Paul wrote, ‘in everything give thanks.’ God is always good to His people—in everything in Christ Jesus. God is good to His people not only in good times, but God is good to them in hard times; God is good to them in everything. God is good to His people.

Paul the apostle when he wrote Ephesians was in bonds, but he had a thankful heart and grateful heart. His people are not to forget to be thankful in all things, because our God is always good to us in all things. Every good thing is from God, and without Him, we would not even be here. It is God’s will that we (His people) find joy in prayer in Christ Jesus in every condition of life, with a grateful heart.

Also notice, when Paul wrote, ‘be made known to God.’ We are only to pray to God, and no other. To pray to any other except to God is a despicable sin. If a brother and/or sister is praying for you to God, no problem, because they are still praying to God, and we saw Paul doing that in Ephesians, but we are never to pray to anyone else except God—we are only to pray to the true and living God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Lord is commanding His people here in Philippians 4, to let Him know our petitions and requests, with thanksgivings to Him. This command is in the present tense, which means this command is always present—we are to keep praying to Him and not lose heart, for the Bible says in 1Thessalonians 5:17 LITV, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ Prayer is a conversation, it is how we speak to our God in Christ, who hears us perfectly, knows us perfectly, understands us perfectly, cares for us perfectly, and responds to us perfectly, knowing what is best for us perfectly. If we pray according to His will, He will do it, but if not, we can know, He knows what is best for us perfectly, and He can be fully trusted in all things, for He is perfect—God is always faithful to His Word. God is perfect in all His ways—He is our sovereign God. There is no other like our Lord, for He is the one true living God.

Let us finish these two scriptures about the prayers of His people:

Proverbs 15:8 LITV, ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is a hateful thing to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.’

1Peter 3:12 LITV, ‘because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against any doing evil things.’

Two Resurrections

In Revelation 20:4c-6 LITV, the Bible says,

And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one having part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.

There are some Christians who believe that all people are resurrected at the same time, but the Bible does make a distinction between the category of the first resurrection, and the second resurrection. What does the Bible say about the first resurrection?

The first resurrection does not include, for example, one being raised back to mortal life to face death again later on, like Lazarus or the son of Nain, for they were raised not to immortality, but raised again to mortal life, and they died again sometime later on. When we speak of the first resurrection, we speak of resurrection unto everlasting life, which means to immortality, which means no longer subject to death.

Who was the first risen from the dead when we speak of the category of the first resurrection? The first was the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul said in 1Corinthians 15:13 LITV, ‘But if there is not a resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.’ The reason those in Christ can have confidence in Him that there will be a resurrection unto everlasting life, is because our Lord and Saviour has risen from the dead. Amen. For Paul says in v.20-23 LITV,

But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He became the firstfruit of those having fallen asleep, For since death is through man, also through a Man is a resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, But each in his own order, Christ, the firstfruit, afterward those of Christ at His coming.

The Bible says in 1John 3:2 LITV,

Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it was not yet revealed what we shall be. But we know that if He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

The category of the first resurrection begins with the resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, because without Him, there will be no resurrection unto life, but because Jesus rose from the dead, we in Him, are part of the first resurrection. The One who gives eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ, was raised for our justification, will resurrect His people from the dead to everlasting life, and we shall be like Him—which means to be made perfect like Him—because we shall see Him as He is. We will receive a glorified body like our Lord and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, because we are His people, whom He has saved.

Then we see the Bible talks about some Old Testament saints were raised after the resurrection of the Lord.

The Bible says Matthew 27:52-53 LITV,

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, And coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered into the holy city and were revealed to many.

Notice in v. 53—they came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection. After the resurrection of their Lord and Saviour, some Old Testament saints who had died, where raised, and came out of the grave—and were seen by many in Jerusalem. Now, by the context which this is written, they did not rise from the dead like Lazarus or the son of Nain, where they still had mortal life, and would die again later on, but they were resurrected to everlasting life, after the resurrection of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; they conversed with men for a short time in Jerusalem—as proof of a perfect resurrection for them who belong to Christ.

So these OT saints who were raised, were part of the first resurrection. Then we see in scripture, the snatching away, or what is called the ‘Rapture’. This is seen in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. This is the time when Christ will come for His Church, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and in v. 17 LITV,

Then we who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to a meeting with the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

This is part of the first resurrection, where the second death has no hold on us.

Then we have the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation, which is during the tribulation period, when the two witnesses of God will be killed, but will be resurrected and be taken up to Heaven. The two witnesses will witness about their Lord and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be killed, they will be put to death for their witness. Revelation 11:7 LITV, ‘And when they complete their witness, the beast coming up out of the abyss will make war with them, and will overcome them, and will kill them.’

Then the Bible tells us in Revelation 11:11-12 LITV,

And after three days and a half, a spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. And great fear fell on the ones beholding them. And they heard a great voice out of Heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud. And their enemies saw them. 

These two witnesses are part of the first resurrection.

The rest of the Old Testament saints, and the tribulation saints which are put to death in the tribulation period, will be part of the first resurrection, which the second death has no hold on them.

The Bible says in Revelation, 20:4b LITV,

and the souls of the ones having been beheaded because of the witness of Jesus, and because of the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast not its image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

All the saints of God throughout the ages, saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, all will be part of the category of the first resurrection unto everlasting life. The second death has no authority over them. They who are part of the category of the second resurrection, is a resurrection unto death, the second death, which is an eternity in hell.

The second resurrection is the category for them who are without the Lord Jesus Christ—those who rejected Him. These people will have eternal damnation. Notice what the Bible says in Revelation 20:5a LITV, ‘But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were ended.’ They will be raised to stand at the Great White Throne judgment. The Bible says in Rev. 20:13 LITV, ‘And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead in them. And they were each judged according to their works.’

Everyone who is part of the second resurrection, will stand at the Great White Throne judgement, and in Rev. 20: 14 LITV, the Bible says,

And death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And is anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.

The first resurrection is to everlasting life, and the second resurrection is to eternal damnation. Those in the category of the second resurrection, the second death has power over them, and they will be lost forever.

So we can see clearly the two categories of resurrection. The first resurrection, and the second resurrection. Thanks be to God, if you are a true believer in Christ, you will be part of the first resurrection, the resurrection unto everlasting life, because true Christians are in Him, the One who rose from the dead, who has conquered death and sin, and the grave, and defeated the enemy. Brothers and sisters in Christ, may we be continually thankful to the Lord for His grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be thankful to the Lord for His salvation in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us be thankful to the Lord, for our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that the second death has no authority over us. Thank the Lord for our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

May we ever be thankful to our God, and look to God to help us to be ever more thankful to Him, for He has done so much for us, and above all, has given to us the most precious and greatest gift of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.