Please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 22. We've come up to the subject of the calling of God upon our lives. And I think there's a lot of confusion on the subject. Some people think only pastors are called. You know, they're called to ministry. But Jesus was every bit as much entering into His calling from the Father when He was a carpenter as when He was a preacher. And for that matter, He was entering into His calling fully when He was a child growing up. as he was when he was a preacher. And so hopefully we can clear up some of this issue of calling as we look at the call of Paul. Acts 22, beginning at verse 10. So I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. And since I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me. And he stood and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that same hour, I looked up at him. Then he said, the God of your fathers has chosen you that you should know his will and see the just one and hear the voice of his mouth. For you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Now it happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I was in a trance and saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me. So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death. and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. And he said to me, Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would be honored as we continue to worship you with the responses of our hearts to that which you say. In Christ's name, amen. Well, last week we looked at the conversion of the Apostle Paul. It was very remarkable. In one sense, it was utterly unique. But there's another sense in which we saw that it was a pattern for us. Here's what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.16. He talked about his conversion as being, quote, a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. So he says that his conversion, however unique it was on the details, actually is a pattern for how all of us get converted. It's sovereign grace, and we can relate to what he was going through. Well, I would say the same is true of his calling. In Philippians 4, Paul said this, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So that's the testimony of his response to God's call on his life. And then he immediately tells us, brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. That's in verse 17. In other words, his calling, however unique it was in the details, and it was very unique in the details, still is a pattern for how all people are called. And obviously, none of us has been called to be an apostle. And so in that sense, it's unique. In 1 Corinthians 15, 8, he says, he was called to be an apostle. We're called to be saints. So I do not in any way want to question the uniqueness of his calling. Now, we looked at that when we were in chapter 9 of Acts. We thought, if you don't understand the uniqueness of the apostle Paul's calling, then we're missing out on a lot that Jesus really wants for us in terms of apostleship. So very much unique. But there's another sense in which his calling is a pattern. for God's calling on all of our lives. So, 1 Corinthians, he says, I'm called to be an apostle, you're called to be saints. So, let's start at verse 10. I think that Paul's question in verse 10 is the heart's cry of every Christian. What shall I do, Lord? We want to follow the Lord's lead. We want to obey His call on our lives. What shall I do, Lord? That's the call of my life. That's the call of my heart, the cry of my heart. And I think every one of you probably can say the same. There's nothing more significant than to know that day by day we are following the Lord's calling upon our lives. I know that's definitely true for me. It gives a sense of significance to know the Lord has called and we are following after Him. And yet the subject of God's calling produced a great deal of stress in my life. Part of it was because I was running away from God's call, but part of it was because I didn't understand the full context of His call. And when I stepped back a little bit from what the call as a whole was about, and I addressed the broader picture, it really helped me to find joy and satisfaction in that. Most books that I read only address the question of whether you're called to be a pastor or an evangelist, a missionary, or something else like that. And they miss the broader process that God takes us through. So when I'm preaching through this issue of calling this morning, I don't want you to say, oh, well, I can just turn this off. I'm not called to be a pastor. If your heart's cry is the same as Paul, Lord, what shall I do? Then this message definitely is for you. OK, the second thing I want to point out is that God sometimes makes us wait for the clarification of His call. Paul asks, what shall I do? Lord, and God doesn't immediately answer him. Instead, the Lord says, arise, go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. So he travels to Damascus. He waits for three days. Ananias comes, and he gives him, in broad picture format, he gives him the call that he is to go out and he's to be an apostle to the Gentiles. That's in verses 12 through 16. But take a look at verse 17. Chapter 22, verse 17, it says, now it happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I was in a trance, et cetera. And then it talks about God giving that to him. Now, when you examine all of the passages on calling that are in the scripture, In the book of Acts, Acts 9 and especially Acts 26 and in Galatians chapter 1, you realize that this happened three years later. Three years after he met Ananias, he's in the temple and he gets further clarification on what exactly he is supposed to do. And the point is, Paul's call gets more and more refined, more and more clarified as he goes on. And I think that's the way it is with all of us. Now, some people have incredible clarity right up front at the beginning of their Christian lives and what God is wanting them to do. But even they are entering more and more. It's an upward call that God gives us in Christ Jesus. And year by year, we discover more and more of what that means. He does that through burdens, through guidance, through providence, through people, through painful events, you know, that are kind of pushing us a different direction than we wanted to go. through closed doors, he uses all kinds of means, but they never stop having to press into that upward call that God is giving to us in Christ Jesus. So don't be discouraged if you don't know everything about your call right now. Paul had to wait for some things as well. Third thing that seems common to our call is that we often struggle with it. We say, oh Lord, do you really want me to be doing this? We struggle. with our calling. Paul's call was an incredibly uncomfortable thing for Paul to obey, and so God gives Paul some confirmation, and we're going to look at the confirmation under Roman numeral four. I just want to look at the struggle that Paul had. How hard was it for Paul to follow his calling? Well, Paul has been trained as a Jew to disassociate himself from the Gentiles, to separate from them, to not have any contamination from the Gentiles, And yet God is calling Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Even three years later, Paul is arguing with God a little bit about this call that God has put upon his life. In verse 18, God tells Paul, hey, get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they're not going to listen to anything that you're going to have to say. And he has a hard time believing that. Commentators point out, And he argues with God in verses 19 through 20. And then in verse 21, God says, depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. And we're going to look at that a little bit more later on. The commentaries point out Paul is really struggling with his call. And I think most of us do that at some point or another. I know I certainly did. When I first realized God was calling me to be a pastor, I was scared to death. I thought, no, Lord, that's got to be My brother John, yes, that's OK, but don't be calling me to be a pastor. I really struggled with his call upon my life. And we're going to be looking a little bit more at Paul's call. But when I began to step back and say, OK, there's much more that I've already been called into, that my heart has been burdened for, as I look back at the big picture, What happened is I more and more began to understand fuller the dimensions of it, become convinced of it, be more burdened by it, and then finally define joy in it. And this morning, what I would like to do is I'd like to give you enough information where I bring you through to a place where you can find that same joy and fulfillment and hopefully find it a lot more quickly than I did, not struggle quite as long as I did over that. But I'm encouraged. I'm not the only one who struggled with my call. Paul did too. Fourth thing that I find encouraging about Paul's call is that God is so patient with him. He encourages him, he pushes him forward, very, very gracious, and he confirms his call through Ananias and through two miracles. By the way, before we get into that, I should remind you from a previous sermon, this was a confirmation. If you examine again the three places where Paul talks about this call, And especially acts 26, you'll see that Paul has already been given a heads-up at least in some general General way that he's going to be preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. So he knows that and What he's doing through Ananias is he is confirming that call that God has already placed upon his life He doesn't know the specifics, but he does have a call already and the reason that's important is is it wouldn't be too cool a thing if Paul's whole sense of his calling was based on what God has told somebody else. God speaks to him. He uses Ananias to confirm what God has given to him because he knows he's going to struggle through it. And so he gives two miracles and a Christian named Ananias. And so let's go ahead and read verses 11 through 13. Since I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me. And he stood and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that same hour, I looked up at him." So God miraculously makes Paul blind so that Paul cannot run away from his call. And then three days later, God miraculously heals Paul. Now those two miracles, if you look at the biography of Paul, you realize those two miracles had a profound impact upon Paul emotionally, especially because he's a scholar who needs to read. Everything he has done has been leading up to be a rabbi scholar who teaches other rabbi scholars, you know, about all of the things that the Talmud's written about. And God in one fell swoop takes away his life's aspirations by making him blind. He can no longer read and do the kind of research that he's wanted to do. And then three days later, God restores his sight, but it's only so that he can follow the new calling that God has placed upon him. And sometimes God has to hem us in with difficulties like that before we begin to recognize his hand and his calling. Now, the second thing that helped to confirm Paul's call and make him realize, hey, I'm not going crazy on this, is that God confirmed it through Ananias. God tells Ananias the same things that he was telling to Paul. And we're going to look at that in a little bit, but I just want you to think about other people that God used in Paul's life. In the first half of Acts chapter 9, God calls Paul, then uses Ananias to confirm it. In the second half of chapter 9, he confirms Paul's call through Barnabas. Then in Acts chapter 11, he confirms it through the church of Antioch. And in Acts 13, he confirms it once again through prophets who say, hey, separate to me Paul and Barnabas. That's all before he made his first missionary journey. So it takes a while for Paul to fully enter into his calling. But what God's doing is through other people, through other circumstances, he's inching Paul forward more and more into his calling. And God does this in so many people's lives. You look at the life of David. God's call was upon David's life the moment he's anointed by Samuel. Remember that? He poured the oil on him and he's anointed with the Spirit and already given some giftings. Even Saul could recognize David is gifted to be a leader. But because God does not want David falling, He has to put him through some training, some preparation, and so Saul persecutes him, he has to run, but there are others who recognize and confirm this call that's in David's life. 400 people follow after him, and they're loyally devoted to him, and then later thousands come to him. And then later on, the southern tribes acknowledge his calling. And then finally, the northern tribes acknowledge his calling. And you might think, wow, more than seven years that he's got to wait before he is a king. Those are not wasted years. He was engaging in his calling throughout that period of time by the anointing of God on him. You can think of Moses, 80 years Moses has to wait before he enters into the stage of the calling that we think about, you know, as being the leader of Israel. And yet all of those years, those 80 years, he was living out God's calling upon his life. It's not as if, OK, I got to wait until God calls me. No, he's living that out throughout that time and nudging them forward through other people. and other signs. Now let's quickly go through some of the other features of Paul's call. And then what I'm going to do is we're going to try to wrap these things together and apply it in our own lives. Look at verse 14. Then he said, the God of your fathers has chosen you. The call of God upon any person's life is very, very personal. We ought not to think. In fact, I had one person tell me, hey, I'm called to be a missionary. And the only call I need is Matthew 28, the Great Commission. Everybody's called to be a missionary. Well, that's not exactly true. Not everybody is cut out to be a missionary. In fact, some people are miserable failures because they're operating outside the realm of God's calling when they go out onto the mission field. No, what we need to say is God has chosen every one of you for a very unique calling. That means you're special. You don't have to imitate Paul or Phil or anybody else. God has set you apart. He has chosen you in a very special way. Second, God's call is in part knowing about God's will. Ananias says, the God of your fathers has chosen you that you should know his will. Now, I take that to not only know the will of God as it's laid out on paper in the scriptures, but how the scriptures apply in the specifics of life. Lord, what do you want me to do specifically? There's a hundred gazillion things I could do that would be obedience to your word. Which of those things today do you want me to focus upon? That's knowing the will of God as it's applied in real life. So if you're interested, Lord, how do I know your will? You're asking the question, how do I enter more fully into my calling? The next part of verse 14 speaks of intimacy with Christ. It says, and see the just one and hear the voice of his mouth. Now, obviously, Paul heard from Christ infallibly, and none of us do. So that's unique about his calling. But what is not unique about Paul's calling is that he was called into a close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the same kind of closeness that he wants every one of us to enter into. Intimacy with Christ is part of that upward call of God in Christ. Now, we're going to experience that perfectly in heaven, absolutely perfectly in heaven. But this life right now is designed to inch us forward more and more into intimacy with Christ while we're on earth. We can't be reductionistic and think, oh, well, calling's just about what career I'm going to have. No, it's whom I know in the process of serving. You know, if you don't know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, you're not going to be powerful in the service that God has called you to either. So that's a part of the calling. Verse 15 describes the service aspect of calling. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. Again, there is a unique aspect to that. He's an apostle who's going to be a witness to all of the nations, but there's a non-unique aspect to it that he's called to service. And every one of us is called to service as well, right? So there are things that we can apply from his life. And then verse 16 talks about separation from the world and from sin. Now, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. So Paul has to start where every single Christian has to start, at conversion. And conversion is probably the most frequently referenced part of our calling. We are the called of God and it's at the moment of conversion that we become the called of God. So he starts where we start. We're called out of the world and we're called into the kingdom, called to serve no longer by the old fleshly dictates but by the power of Christ's Christ's grace. So there's a definitive break with the world. Then comes some guidance for specific details of his call in verses 17 through 18. And this occurs three years after Ananias. Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem, was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me. So Paul is being told You're not going to be effective in Jerusalem. They're not going to listen to you. You're not going to be effective in Jerusalem. And there's a good reason for that. God has not called him to minister in Jerusalem. Now, I think we can learn from this as well. We're always going to be outside the realm of our effectiveness if we serve outside the realm of our calling. What do you call to? You know, you call to be a mother. Or you call to be a businessman. What do you call to? You need to understand that you're going to always be in the realm of ineffectiveness if you serve outside the realm of your calling. Which means calling is an incredibly important doctrine. We can't ignore it. It's very, very practical. I love the phrase in the movie, Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddell said, I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure. Now really, God had given him a purpose to run, as well as a purpose to be a missionary who would eventually be a martyr. And because he knew God's call upon his life, he found pleasure in doing that. It brought him satisfaction and fulfillment. What happens to us is we get frustrated because we're running away from the calling that God has placed upon our lives. And that's what Paul was doing here. Now this is point G. Paul argues with God. Because his primary desire is to reach the Jews with the gospel. That's where he's going to be the most comfortable. Look at verses 19 through 21. So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. Paul has a hard time believing that he's not the perfect candidate to make these Jews believe. How could they not believe when he's been converted after all of this persecution? That's basically what he's saying. F.F. Bruce in his commentary said, Paul tried to remonstrate his former anti-Christian activity in that very city, he argued, was fresh on people's minds. His point seems to have been that people who knew his former record would be the more readily convinced that his change of attitude must be based on the most compelling grounds. That's pretty good argument. You know, I would buy that, but God doesn't buy it. God says, no. Verse 21, he slams the door shut on this sphere of ministry. Then he said to me, depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. Notice those words, far from here to the Gentiles. If Paul stayed in Jerusalem, he would be operating outside the sphere of his effectiveness, outside the sphere of his calling. And so what God is doing is he's making Paul more and more specific. It's not just he's called to apostleship, all of the apostles were. They're going to be effective in Jerusalem. He's going to be effective amongst the Gentiles. But he's saying, Paul, don't just think of an apostle. You've got to think, what is the specific slice of apostleship that I'm being called to? Let me read you another scripture. 2 Corinthians 10.13. Paul tells the Gentiles, We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appoints to us, a sphere which especially includes you. So he's saying, my going to Corinth is part of my call. God called me to Corinth. I'm not going to operate outside the sphere where I'm going to be effective, outside the sphere of my call. My call includes you. I hope I've covered just enough this morning to make you really be fascinated with this subject of calling and do a little bit of study for yourself. I'm not going to give you everything that you need this morning to study, to really understand this, but I think it'll be enough to give you a big picture and to study it on your own. I'm going to skip over Roman numeral six, subpoints A and B. But I have gotten the question, how do I know my calling? So many times I thought, if I'm going to preach on this, I really want to delve into the specifics of how you can personally know what your calling is. And so we're going to do that. I'm going to skip forward a little bit. First hint, this is point number C. The first hint I want to give you is that you need to start thinking about this subject at the right place. So many people, they want to start, and this is the only place they want to be, is right at the center of this target. They want to say, I want to know day by day everything that the Lord wants me to do. And they don't want to be bothered with looking at the other aspects of the call. They say, I just want to know, what is the career? What's God going to ask me to do this very day? And they're frustrated because they know that they have not yet arrived. They know Jesus has arrived. Let me give you some scriptures on Jesus' call. Isaiah 42.6 says to Jesus, I, Yahweh, have called you. So Jesus has a calling of the Father upon His life. I have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. And then it describes such a closeness between the Father's call and the Son's response to that call, then it makes our hearts say, wow, I wish I could respond to the Father in that way. It makes us want to enter into our call that way. Let me read you some Scriptures from the Gospel of John. I'm not going to give all of the reference for them. But as I read Jesus' words about His calling, I want you to ask, doesn't your heart desire to do exactly the same thing that Jesus was doing? Jesus said this, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the father do. For whatever he does, the son also does in like manner. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me." Can you see how there is a perfect correspondence between the Father's call upon Him and the Son's response to that call? Now, we are not going to have that kind of a perfect response until we get to heaven, right? But some of the scriptures that we have skipped over in your outline show that there is going to be a gradual growth into that calling, gradually pressing into the upward call of God upon our lives. Nevertheless, Christ's response to the Father's call is a standard to which we must conform. Romans 8, 28 says, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. But what's the good that we're called to? The next verse explains conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, conformity to His image. Anyway, back to the Gospel of John. Then Jesus said to them, I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. That's the center of the outline. That's the center of the outline. That's what we're going to be doing in heaven. In heaven, we're going to be perfectly responding to the Father's call in absolutely everything that we do. It's going to be a pleasure for us to respond to the Father's call. We're not going to be struggling like Paul struggled in verses 19 through 20. No, it won't be a struggle at all. But even though that is what we are pressing towards in our upward call, perfectionism is not achievable upon earth. Let me repeat that. Perfectionism, of doing everything right here in the center, is not achievable while we are here on earth. And you ought to be encouraged by that. Anybody who says, hey, I perfectly hear from the Lord, and I always perfectly follow His call, is lying to you. It is not going to be possible. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with that from time to time. So there's no need to be discouraged, knowing that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. He's never going to go back on His calling. That's Romans 11, verse 29. So that's the start. He calls us in conversion and it's irrevocable. He's going to take you all the way through, Romans 8 says, until you get to heaven. God's call is going to be upon your life all the way to heaven. That is such a comfort because it means we don't have to earn God's favor by somehow following His call and just working at it. If I'm perfectly following his call, then he's going to love me. No, it's the exact opposite. It's because he loves you and you have his favor that your heart yearns to enter more and more into the call that he has for you. Hopefully you can see that it's a heart hunger and it's not something to get frustrated over. So I don't deny at all that this center point is what our whole lives are aiming for. I want to keep pressing into that kind of intimacy with the Father. I don't deny that it's been a blessing, an incredible blessing to me, that in the last 15 years or so, the Lord has more and more open the eyes of my understanding for the second most innermost circle there. What is the specific sphere that God wants me to be involved in for the rest of my life? It helps me to say no to certain things, say yes to other things. I don't deny that it's really, really important. that I know that I'm called to the office of being a pastor. That's the third circle out there. It was just such a blessing for me to know with a certainty, God wants me to be here because it helps me press through even when the going gets tough. That is all great. And I find a real assurance in that. But what I am saying is that if you focus only on the center, which is where most of the books focus, you're going to be constantly frustrated and saying, what is wrong with me? that I'm not moment by moment, every day, you know, sensing God's call and responding to His call. What's wrong with me? Okay, you're going to be frustrated continually. So many people miss out on the joy and the fulfillment of their calling because they've neglected the first six circles on this chart. So let's start where God starts, and that's point number one. The first time we hear and we experience the inward call of God This is not the outward call of the gospel, but the inward, irresistible call of the Holy Spirit is that conversion. OK? And to me, this is very, very encouraging. If you're a believer, that means you have already heard the call of God. You don't have to wait to hear the call of God. You've already heard it. You don't have to be a super saint to hear from God. Let me read from Jesus, John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. The moment you're regenerate, You recognized the voice of Christ's calling and you responded to that call. And so, from that point on, you came out of the world and you came into God's kingdom. It was a call to separation. Now, it's worded different ways, and let me give you some scriptures along these lines. Hebrews 11.8 says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out. He was called to go out. Then later it says, he went out not knowing where he was going. Now, that's a remarkable thing that's happened to every single one of you. If you were regenerated and you got converted, you were called out of the world and you responded to God's call, really not knowing what God was going to do with your lives, not knowing where you're going. So don't be discouraged if you don't know everything about your calling in life. Abraham didn't either. He responded and more and more as he walked into God's call, God opened it up for him. It's such a liberating thought when you realize you're already called and you know you're called. You've been called out of the world. That's where it all began. By the way, it really is too bad we can't read all of the scriptures, but right down, here's a scripture you absolutely have to pray on a regular basis if you want to know what you're called to. It's Ephesians 1, 17 through 19. Ephesians 1, 17 through 19. This passage is a wonderful... I've prayed this for myself many, many times down through the years. This is Paul's impassioned prayer for every one of you. that you would enter into the understanding of the full scope of God's calling upon your life. What he's praying is, may every Christian really understand every circle here, all the way through, understand that fully. I would encourage you to pray that on a regular basis as you're asking God, Lord, what is your calling upon my life? How do I enter more and more into that? A second side note would be Ephesians 4, verse 1. following which tells us that we are to walk worthy of our calling and As we walk worthy of that calling we're going to be stepping into more knowledge more holiness more love and graces of the Lord It's a gradual process that we work into okay a couple more scriptures Hosea 11 verse 1 He says out of Egypt. I called my son 1st Peter 1 9 speaks of us of having been called out of darkness and into his marvelous light. So every Christian is called to separation. That's the first thing that happens in your life. It's called a holy calling. And he is who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, 2nd Timothy 1.9. And it's called a holy calling because God says, you shall be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples. Romans 1.1 speaks of being called and separated. Galatians 1.15 speaks of being separated and called through his grace. So separation is absolutely essential to the subject of calling. We're called out of something. And I don't care how much you may feel called to be serving in some way. You've come in by a different gate. If in some way you have not been called out of the world, out of separation from the Lord, that's where our calling begins. It's letting go. There was a very unusual news story that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There was a Brian McBride who was a burglar. He knew exactly what he was going after. He kicked in a door and grabbed a duffel bag full of extremely expensive electronic equipment, and he ran. Somebody called 911, and by the time the police showed up, he's running toward the Arkansas River. And they're yelling at him to stop, and he won't. He jumps into the river and starts swimming. But this is a pretty heavy case, and he's having a hard time staying afloat, goes under, comes up again. Finally, he stays under the water and drowns. Fire department comes and takes his body out of the river. They discover this guy has refused to let go of his loot. And he drowns as a result of hanging on to this heavy bag that's going down. Well, I think that's a perfect picture of what happens to the non-elect. The non-elect hear the call of the gospel. That's the outward call. That's the call that men give, that I'm given with my voice right here. And the call is, repent and believe the Gospel. Come out of the world and be a part of God's people. But until you hear the inward call of God's Spirit, you're not going to let go. You're going to be hanging on to the world and your sin and all of that thinking, and it's going to drown you. But every one of you who has put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you've heard God's call. It was a sweet call, and it was a call that you're never going to let go of. You're going to keep following after the Lord. So don't say, I'm trying to discover the call of God upon my life. You already have it. If you're a believer, you already have experienced that call. Just keep walking in it. It's an upward call. Second step is given in Colossians 3.15, which says, you were called in one body. Why does Ephesians 4, 1 through 6, encourage us? to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace and embrace everyone whom Christ embraces. Well, twice in that passage, it says we've been called into the one body. Okay? We've been called into that. So we are not walking worthy of our calling if we cause division and discord within the body of Christ. And so the first two parts of our calling already, right off the bat, put a little bit of tension into our lives. It really takes faith to walk these first two steps. First point is to leave sin and compromise and worldly thinking behind. Or as 1 Corinthians 1, 2 words it, we are called to be saints. But then we go ahead and we're called into the body and we get into the body and these saints sure aren't acting very saintly, are they? And we think, whoa, that's what I've been called to separate from. I'm going to separate from these believers as well. And God said, hey, hey, hey, just wait a minute. They're part of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, and God's not finished with them yet. Be patient with them. And so, okay, you're patient with them, and you realize all of us, it's a process. It's not something we instantly get into. In fact, Ephesians 4, I love that chapter. Marvelous passage which says that over time the church as a corporate body is called into this upward calling as well And that's not going to happen over time. It's a gradual thing We're growing into and there's coming a time in history praise Jesus. It's finally going to come Where it says the church is no longer going to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine We're all going to be united in the faith But until that happens, we've got to hold in tension these first two points. If we only emphasize separation, I've been called out of the world, and we think we're going to separate from anybody who's defiled by the world, we're going to be very lonely Christians. In fact, everybody else is going to do the same thing to us because we're defiled by the world to some degree too, right? We're going to become very lonely Christians. If, on the other hand, we say, okay, we can't do that, The way I'm going to maintain unity in the body is to just shut up about doctrine. Doctrine divides, love unites. I'm just going to maintain unity. We're going to be ignoring the first part of our calling, which is to separate from sin, to separate from all of the compromised thinking. So no, we've got to hold those two together in tension. How do we maintain that balance? And I think you do it by looking at Jesus. And Jesus did not have the attitude, doctrine doesn't matter, You know, your ethical life doesn't matter. You look at the life of Jesus and tell me he never got on anybody's case. And I'll laugh in your face. No way. He got on people's cases. But what did Jesus do? He affirmed people and He says, I love you. I'm going to embrace you. You're one of mine. You're never going to lose your salvation. Nobody can pluck you out of the Father's hand. So what do we do? We imitate Christ by embracing fellow believers as well. And we say, I love you. I don't care how much disagreement I have with you. I love you. We embrace everyone whom Christ embraces and we speak everything to them that Jesus would have spoken to them, which is the whole Bible. It's no shutting up about doctrine. People say love unites, doctrine divides. You can't even understand what kind of love is a non-counterfeit love without doctrine. You have to hold these first two points in tension with each other, and you'll grow if you do. You'll grow like crazy. By the way, just as a side point, some people have wondered, you know, why does the Westminster Confession and all of the creeds of the early church, they say that ordinarily there is no salvation outside the church. And people say, whoa, that sounds really weird. You saying the church saves us? And they say, no, no, no, that's not what we're saying. What we are saying is that everybody who has been irresistibly called by the Holy Spirit is called into the body, right? It's not the body that saves us, but salvation ushers us into the body. And so what they're saying is that If you bypass this step, you're going to miss the means that God has established to help you to become more and more clear on your calling. Paul, how did he get clarification on his calling? It's through Ananias. And then chapter 9 and 11 and 13, it's through Barnabas and the prophets and other people. The body of Christ is an important part of that. Okay, point three. Now, this may seem a little oddly placed on your chart, You might think this upward call of God, since it's to be living just like Jesus lives above, that that should be right at the center of the chart. Instead of being down here, it should be right up here at the center. Because why? We're praying, Lord, your will be done more and more in my life, and your kingdom come more and more in my life. And so we're leaving Satan's kingdom, Christ's Kingdom, but from that point on we are gradually, and that's the operative word, we're gradually growing into the heavenly calling. Here's some of the biblical phrases that describe that third step. The upward call of God, Philippians 3.14. The heavenly calling, Hebrews 3.1. Calls us to His eternal glory, 1 Peter 5.10. Romans 8.28 indicates All things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. And what's the good that we're called to? Good we're called to conformity to Jesus. Where's Jesus? He's in heaven. So that's why Colossians 3.1 says, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Now he's not saying, as some people interpret that, you need to just escape from earth and live a pietistic life. Be so heavenly minded you're of no earthly good, right? And he's not saying that. He's saying be so heavenly minded you are of immense earthly good. Ephesians 1.3 says, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Where do you go for blessing? You go to Christ, right? So we need to learn how to take those resources out of our bank in heaven. And Colossians continues to go on and say that if you're seeking those things above, it will profoundly transform your callings as fathers and mothers and businessmen and even politicians. It will transform your calling. So we've got to learn how to derive those things from heaven. The closer your fellowship with Jesus, the more you're going to be ushered into those inner circles. So there's a sense in which the upward call is the center, but there's a stronger sense in which it needs to be here because it starts immediately as soon as we're converted, and it's not fully accomplished. It's something we're growing, and that's why I put it on the third part. Fourth circle, we're called to holiness. If conformity to Jesus is the goal of our Christian lives the moment we're converted, That means becoming more holy is the goal of our Christian lives as well from that point on. And we're going to short circuit, entering more and more into these other circles of our calling if we are not pursuing holiness. I'm just going to read two of the scriptures I've put in your outline. 1 Thessalonians 4.7, for God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 1 Peter 1.15. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Well, let's move on. The more we go into this holiness, the deeper our fellowship with God is. Point number five, 1 Corinthians 1.9 says, we have been called into the fellowship of the Son. Well, what's the fellowship of the Son? The fellowship He had with Father and Spirit is a perfect fellowship. perfectly fulfilled in each other. You see, God did not create this world and create us because He was so lonely and so bored. We've got to have some people we can interact with. No, they had perfect fulfillment. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with us. And it's out of the overflow of His heart, the generosity of His heart, that He wants us to experience the joy that He's been experiencing throughout all of eternity. That's the fellowship that we've been called that we've been called into. And the closer our fellowship with Jesus, the more you're going to be ushered again into those inner circles. Here's some scriptures. Isaiah 54, 5 through 6, I think uses remarkable imagery of how close he wants you to be to God. For your maker is your husband. For Yahweh has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused." He's saying, I understand your feelings of rejection. I understand exactly what you're going through. But I want you to know, when I called you in salvation, you were special to me. In fact, you have been called into a relationship of such intimacy, it's like a woman who was forsaken finding a wonderful husband, bringing joy into her life. In Isaiah 43, verse 1, he says, you aren't a statistic. God says, I have called you by name. And then he proceeds to talk about the delights he ushers us into, protecting us, causing us to grow. Here's Paul's whole goal in life, that I may know him. and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. Now, some people focus all of their time on justification. What a wonderful gift! It's probably the biggest gift, you know, under the Christmas tree. And any time somebody brings along another gift, whether it's sanctification or some other thing, They say, oh, no, no, I just want to look at this gift. Now, how's God going to feel, you know, when He's given all of these gifts to us? We don't want to open up those things. We want to be secure in our justification. And they're not looking at the empowerment and the fellowship and the joys that He has. He's got so many gifts that He wants us to open up. Galatians 5.13 grieves when people use the blessings of God that come through His calling in order to stop growing in our calling. He says, for you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. That's going backwards on this chart. You're either going upwards into the calling of Christ Jesus or you're slipping down. Okay? Upwards into liberty, downwards into bondage. Now, I have to hurry because I'm just trying to give an overview of this, but let's look at the sixth circle. The more we grow in responding to God's call upon our lives, the more assurance floods our hearts. It's an assurance of God's love and his purpose, an assurance of the significance and the place that we have in his plan. It's an assurance his grace is sufficient for us. Peter says this, therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. He's talking about assurance here. How do we have an assurance of our election, an assurance of our calling? It's by being diligent on these things down here. He says, "...be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." He says the more diligent you are to gain an assurance of your calling, the more you're going to taste God's everlasting kingdom God's everlasting kingdom right at the center of this chart here. He says That you're going to enter more and more into the reality of that. Why why do we pray? Thy kingdom come thy will be done Lord. I want more of your kingdom in my life. I want more of your your will to be performed in my life, it's because we've already tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and so we want to taste and see more of the Lord's goodness in our lives. We're constantly pressing forward. We're not doing it because we doubt our salvation, and so we've got to work hard to gain salvation or security. Exact opposite. Calling of God is irrevocable, according to Romans 11. I can't lose it, because every one of you has tasted of this calling at conversion, You know, you've been called out of the world, and you followed His voice. You know His voice. You can kind of put your toes into the second pool, and it's a little bit cold water, but the pool of the body of Christ and rejoice with God that He has made the body for our good, and you thank Him for the goodness that's in the body, and you pray that God would reform that which is not good about the body, right? And so you stick your toes into there, and the more that you take advantage of that, exhorting and encouraging one another to good works and all of those things, the more you step into holiness and more knowledge and assurance. OK, all of these steps are linked together and growing into that calling. So let me tell you something. You do not need to be anxious about what God is calling you to do as a career. That's the seventh point. or to be even more specific, what areas in this career do you want me to focus on, the eighth point, or even day by day, Lord, what is it you're wanting me to avoid doing, to be efficient in my job and to be doing? You don't need to sweat those things. Those things will almost automatically happen if you're walking in the first six circles of this chart. And so I kind of liken growing in your understanding of your calling to growing in your understanding of what your spiritual gifts are. Now, I used to give spiritual gifts inventories, like little exams. You know, you fill out this thing to discover what your gifts are. And I found these were actually counterproductive. They were not helpful at all, especially when immature people were filling them out. How in the world can you evaluate whether you're strong in a given area if you've never done any ministry in that area? It's impossible. You can't do that. And so what I found people doing is they based on their exams, they would say, oh, I'm not going to be involved in that ministry because that's not my area of gifting. And so they would shortchange themselves. So I told them, hey, don't even bother filling out the exams. Here's how you discover what your spiritual gifts are. Just have a servant's heart and anywhere you are needed, be willing to serve even the areas that are not your gifting. You know, I can't say, oh, yeah, my gifting is to set out chairs every Sunday. But I faithfully set out chairs for eight years now there are people have taken my place But as we have a servant's heart and we begin serving the Lord and everything that comes out very quickly You will automatically know what your spiritual gifts are because other people will tell you they'll say wow You have so ministered to me through your gift of helps. Oh, really? Oh I mean, you don't even recognize that you've done this, and they say, yeah, it has transformed my life. And you hear these different testimonies, and over time, you begin to sense, you know, I'm really strong in these spiritual gifts, but these I'm not so strong in. It will automatically happen. Well, the same is true of calling. Ephesians 1 prays this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is the passage I encourage you to pray for yourselves. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." Wow. He's saying, I want you to know fully what God wants for you in the center of this chart. That's what his prayer is about. How do we get there? The rest of the book tells us how to do that. It's by being faithful in the first circles. It's just serving the Lord. So start where God starts and find joy and satisfaction there, and you will find joy and satisfaction in every step along the way. Two of the biggest errors, and I'm going to conclude with this, two of the biggest errors that I have found in the area of calling is, first of all, to assume that you have been called to pastoral ministry simply because you've got a real hunger for the Lord, a hunger for His Word, you love serving other people. That doesn't necessarily mean you're called to be a pastor. That's the mistake many pastors have made. They've seen some people who are more mature than anybody else, have more of a zeal for the Lord. Every Christian should have that. But they take what every Christian should have and they say, oh, this guy's really serious about his Christianity. We need to send him off to seminary. And they go to seminary and they spend tons of money, three years, only to discover at the end of that time, you know what? I'm not called to be a pastor. There's no fit whatsoever. I can't do this. What a waste of time. You've sent them in the wrong direction. That's the biggest mistake. The other mistake, second big error that I found, is people get so frustrated and weary with the things that they are engaged in, whether it's, you know, carpentry or, you know, cleaning dishes, whatever it might be, you know. They get so weary of it that they're hoping they can escape from this and, oh Lord, maybe you're calling me to be a pastor. I sure don't like doing all of this work. Let me assure you, Every, every job has its frustrations, including the pastor. Probably the pastor has more frustrations than any job does, okay? So don't let that mean, I guess I'm called to the ministry because I hate doing what I'm doing here, right? That's not a good way to think. Paul speaks of marriage, business, even politics as callings. In the Old Testament, God says that he called Cyrus to be his servant. He called him to be his servant in politics. That's Isaiah 45. 1 through 7. So Cyrus becomes converted over time and he uses his office as a calling. It is a calling. Let me end with a story. In the 11th century, King Henry III of Bavaria, he just got weary and sick and tired of court life. The people he had to deal with and he thought, this is so unspiritual that he thought, I'm going to go and be a monk. And so he applied to a monastery to be a monk there. He thought, this is the best way to serve the Lord. I've got to get away from the world and escape from this. He was a good man. He was a man who really had a heart for the Lord. And he thought, this is the way to serve the Lord. So he comes to the monastery. And prior Richard knew that this king was needed in the kingdom. He not only had a servant's heart, he was equipped. He just was a key person for ministering in the kingdom. So here's what Prior Richard said to him. Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king. I understand, said King Henry. The rest of my life, I will be obedient to you as Christ leads you. Fatal words out of his mouth, OK? Then I'll tell you what to do, said Prior Richard. Go back to the throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you. And he didn't have a choice. He just said, I'm going to obey what you do. So he did. He went back to his throne. And when he died, a statement was written, the king learned to rule by being obedient. And I think that is so true. I think that is so true. It's easy for us to tire of our roles and responsibilities and to hope, oh Lord, call me somewhere else. And God may. I'm not denying that He may not call you to do that. But your calling right now is to be faithful to your post until God clearly calls you to do something different, to leave. And He calls you to be faithful by being separated from the world, putting off the sins of the world, putting off the worldly thinking, thinking Christ's thoughts after Him, embracing the body of Jesus Christ, ministering within the body, loving the body, pursuing holiness, pursuing intimacy with Christ. And as you do this, all of the other steps, including the detailed guidance that the Lord gives in our lives, will automatically follow. We'll follow, why? Because we are pursuing the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, and he always gives us more as we respond to what he has given. Amen. Father, thank you for your calling upon our lives that every person here has experienced it. We can rejoice in that calling that is irrevocable. that what you have begun you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ, that this calling will one day conform us completely to the image of Jesus Christ. And in the meantime, I pray that we would not have constant frustration because we are bucking against your calling, but we would find the joy and the delight and the freedom and the liberty of walking in that which you have designed us to be most effective in. May each person here, every man, woman and child, Find satisfaction, find knowledge, understanding, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1. Find understanding of what this calling is. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.