On the pages of the Word of God, those who came to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ came to be known in various ways. They came to be known as Christians towards Christ once, and were told how they were first called Christians at a place called Antioch. They were also known as disciples. A disciple is a learner and they were those people who had come to sit at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ as it were to learn of him and to go along in the light of what they were told by him. They were referred to as being followers, those who had taken up the cross, as the Lord had said, and begun to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ. They were known as saints, they were known as brethren, sisters, they were known as the people of the way, the way of Christ. And in those verses that we read together just now, out of the Acts of the Apostles, there's one very telling way in which the people of God of those days came to be known. It comes in the response that that man and Inez gave to the Lord's directive that he was to go and seek out Saul of Tarsus and lay his hand upon him that he might receive his sight. That's in verse 13 of our reading in Ex. Then, nonetheless, answered the Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy sins in Jerusalem, and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thine name. Now that's the title, or that's the description. They who call upon thy name. And in reality it's a very, very fitting description for anyone who comes to believe on our Lord Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsus himself, when he has become the Apostle Paul, he uses the very title, writing to the Corinthians, Paul, Paul to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. All who in every place call upon the name of the Lord. And as I said, a very fitting title for those who are the Lords or those who become the Lords. And the reason why it's a very fitting title is this, because it's that act, it's that piece of action that commences the Christian life for anyone who ever enters into the Christian life. Is there a commencement of the Christian life? Is there a continuation of the Christian life? And if that concludes the Christian life, when the Lord's appointed time for any of us on this earth has come to its fullness. And in our time together for this morning then, it's something of this title, or this description, that I want us to look at. How it commences the Christian life, how it's in the continuation of the Christian life, and how, by the grace of God, it concludes the Christian life. So first of all, the Christian life, the life of faith, commences by calling on the name of the Lord. And that fact is stunned, right at the beginning of the Gospel age, when the Gospel age has slowly come into this world of ours. The people of God, of course, in all generations, in the Old Testament as well as the New, were those who called upon the name of the Lord. But there came a point in the history of this world of ours where that became the mark of anyone who ever became a child of the living God. That point arrived on the day of Pentecost when the risen Christ sent forth the Holy Spirit as he had promised. The apostles began to preach in the way that they did. They were deriving for their preaching. In fact, there were those in Jerusalem at that time who accused him of being drunk and disorderly. It's Peter, of course, who dismisses that charge and then he tells of the true meaning of all that his family faced in the streets of Jerusalem at that point. It's the fulfilment, he says, of all that the Lord spoke many years ago through the prophet Joel. And as he speaks to them, this is what he says, for these are not drunken, as you suppose, in this third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And then he lists many of the things that were spoken by the Prophet Joel. And then he finishes with this word. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The gospel days had come in all its fullness, and here was the great message of the gospel day. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Higher men were once saved. They're saved by calling on the name of the Lord. From what are men and women saved? They're saved from an undone eternity. And once a man, or a woman, or a young person, begins to see that they're faced with a long-running journey, then they call on the name of the Lord, and in all of the arrangement of the gospel, When anyone calls upon the name of the Lord, the Lord responds to that call and that person passes out from the state of being bound for a long and eternity and being bound to a glorious eternity. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And as I say then, the commencement of the Christian life comes with that act. By the grace of God, when anyone calls upon the name of the Lord, God is faithful and God saves that person on account of that call. So you see, it's a very trippy time, because it is one, as that is at the very beginning of the life of faith for anyone who ever begins the life of faith. And you see how in the Word of God, this part of the Word of God, and continuously on the pages of the Word of God, there is always that dividing line. We're all sinners, but some are sinners saved, and some are sinners still lost in their sins. If we have, by the grace of God, called on the name of the Lord, then we're saved. But if you have never done that, my friend, then you're not saved. And the eternal destination is assured for you, because you have never believed in the Lord, never called on the name of the Lord. It doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you are, doesn't matter what you think you have done, unless you have called on the name of the Lord, you are not saved and will never be saved until you do that very thing. Listen to this word from the Apostle Paul, when he's writing to the Romans in chapter 10, and he's lamenting the fact that so many of his fellow countrymen, the Jews, are not saved. And he says, Reverend, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israelites, that they might be saved. And why were they not saved? And from the human side of things, my friends, they were not saved on account of what they were doing and on account of who they were. Those two things, you see, where they, on the human side, they accounted for why they were not saved. And what they were doing, or what they thought they were doing, was this. They thought they were keeping the law of God. That great error on their part, and on the part of the fallen human heart, that if I can just keep the law of God, or remember the law of God and commandments, then assuredly the Lord will save us. But that's not the case, never was the case, never will be the case. Some people like to boast even in the fact, oh I keep this part of the law, I haven't broken that commandment or this commandment. But that's irrelevant because the law of God is a whole thing. And once you break one point of the law of God, says the Bible, then you're guilty of it all. Cursed, says the Apostle, is everyone who continues not in all things of the law to do it. Let me give you a personal illustration. I trust you'll forgive me for that. But when I left school in Belfast all those years ago, you left school then when you were 14. You took a job until you were 16, and then you started an apprenticeship. That was the normal nonsense. And for those two years from when I was 14 until I was 16, I worked in a fishmonger's. Now, I'll tell you this, working in a fish pond burst as a 14-year-old boy doesn't do you much favours with 14-year-old girls. You can imagine that all the turtoons of Arabia will not sweeten this love of mine. That happens. But every morning I had to go out with a pot of whitey, it was called, like a kind of emulsion, you'd say to them, and with a paintbrush. I had to paint over the big plate glass window, all the products of that day, the cloth, the terry, the lace, the hatter, all over the plate glass window. Now imagine, you took that plate of glass from them, and instead of writing all the fish, you wrote the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not save, thou shalt not commit adultery. All over the plate of glass. And then if I gave you a record, and said now you threw that record at those commandments that you're willing to admit you've broken, Well, the brick hits the plate glass window and the whole thing falls at your feet. He who offends at one point in the law is guilty of it all. And the reason why those Jews of Paul's day were not saved was because they thought they could be saved by keeping the law of God. And then there was the issue of who they thought they were. They were Jews. They were God's chosen people. And as Paul goes on in that passage, he says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon him. And then he goes back to that Gospel word, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. No difference. No difference. The great difference in a former age was the difference between the Jew and the Greek, the Jew and the Gentiles. But the only difference in the gospel age between any man or woman or young person is whether they are saved or lost. That's the only difference that exists. And these people, you see, were boasting that they were different. No, you're not different, says the apostle. And the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon Him. And it's a lovely word. Whosoever, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That means on the one hand anyone can call upon the name of the Lord. But on the other hand it means each one must call upon the name of the Lord. You see, it's so comprehensive on the one hand, and so limited on the other. Anyone can call upon the name of the Lord, but each one must call upon the name of the Lord. And there is no difference between one mortal soul and another when it comes to the Gospel of their salvation. And you know, you can see how the Lord's Apostle is almost urging people to do that very thing. And would to God, as believers we were more and more able to urge people, entice people to call on the name of the Lord. For there is no difference, he said, between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon him. He is rich. God is rich. Those commonplace words that we use every day perhaps, but when they come into their setting on the pages of the Word of God, they're full of them. And that word rich, as you trace it out in the scriptures, and with regards to God, you read about the riches of his goodness, the riches of his glory, the riches of his grace, the riches of his mercy. And we're told how He is rich towards us when we call upon Him. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle, who, how He was rich, though He was rich, yet through your sins He became poor, but He, through His poverty, made you rich. And his poverty, of course, was when he stepped out of heaven into the poverty of this world in order that we might go into heaven and all the riches of the Lord in heaven were available. My dear friends, there is no salvation apart from the one that Christ brought and accomplished on the cross of Calvary. And there's no way of obtaining that salvation to ourselves unless we call upon the name of the Lord. And that's how the Christian life commences. And it commences for anyone who ever comes into the Christian life. And there is no way at the end of the day for coming into that life, unless we call on the name of the Lord. Saving, we call on the name of the Lord. But then it's the way the Christian life continues, and this is very important for us if indeed we have commenced the Christian life. Those words I gave from Paul in the letter to the Corinthians, Paul called on the Apostle Jesus Christ, on to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to all but in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you see, they call upon the name of the Lord. That's present. That's an activity that is present. They go on calling on the name of the Lord. The Christian life begins when we call on the name of the Lord. But the Christian life continues by calling on the name of the Lord all the days of our life. These people called upon the name of the Lord and the link of faith commenced. They went on calling on the name of the Lord as the Christian life continues. Calling on the name of the Lord in that sense makes a man or a woman a Christian. But going on calling on the name of the Lord marks out that person as being a Christian. And what a privilege it is, well, what an essential thing it is, for us to go on calling on the name of the Lord all our days. And the Lord by His goodness and His mercy, He's filled the Bible with exhortations, encouragements, examples for us to do that very thing all the days of our life. He does it by promises, by invitations, as I said, by encouragements. Let me just mention a few things. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. There's a promise, and a precious promise. Jeremiah chapter 33. Call upon me, and I will answer thee in the day of trouble. Psalm 86, for the Lord our good and ready to forgive and cleanse us in mercy upon all who call upon him. Call upon Jesus over the wicked. Many of the old writers, the old preachers made much of that word mean. Call upon thee. Aren't there those times when we can call upon one another for help? But there are those many times, my friends, when human help will never meet what we need. And it's in those times that we have the promise, the invitation. Call upon me, says the Lord. The Lord has given us great and precious promises. Do we often say, if I can be of any help, just give me a call? We can be willing to help, but the help that someone needs is far beyond what any of us can give. Thus, never peace, never peace, with the Lord our Savior. He is rich, says the Apostle, rich. In these days in which we live with all the financial calamities and banks and institutions collapsing, the bank of God's riches will never collapse, not in time, not in eternity. And when we need help, the Lord says, call upon me, and I will help you. all the promises, all the invitations along that line. And then there's this to help us as well, or encourage us as well. You can look into the Word of God, or look around you sometimes, and you see how other people called out the name of the Lord, and he heard them and answered them. The Apostle, sorry, the Psalmist, David, used that tactic, in fact, in his life. Moses and Aaron, among his priests, and Samuel, among them that call upon his name, they called upon the Lord, and he answered them. You see what David's doing? He's saying, well, here I can read about those who went before me, they called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord heard them. Why not me? Can I not do the same thing? Can I not go up in the name of the Lord? And will ye not answer me? God heard the call of others, and surely he would hear my call. But even better than that, my friends, surely any of us that were believers we can look back to those times when we called on the name of the Lord and the Lord heard us and answered us. That's the spiritual logic, as you might say, behind the writer of the 116th Psalm that we read earlier on. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. You see, because, and because, I love the Lord. Why? Because He heard my voice and my supplication. And because He heard my voice and my supplication before, He's going to hear my voice and my supplication again. You stand on the experience of those times when you called upon the Lord and he heard you, and you use that experience for calling upon the Lord again. John Newton seems to be one of those men who could apparently bring to mind the things that he needed at different junctures in his Christian life. I'm sure you must know the story about John Newton when he was getting old and his mind and his memory were beginning to play tricks at him and he got to that point. Any of us got to that point. But when he was near the end, Newton said, there are many things I forget. But there are two things that I remember. One, that I have a great son, and two, that Christ is a great Savior. And if we can remember that, then that's worth remembering. And he comments on those words of the Psalmist in that 116 Psalm. And he says in these verses there is a process described which perhaps has to be verified to you and I once again. And the process is this, trouble excites prayer. Prayer brings deliverance. Deliverance produces grace and teaches us where to go the next time for help. I called and he heard me, therefore I will call. And who knows what, in the case of the psalmist, that might have been his initial calling of the Lord. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication. Maybe. That was the first time he had done it. That was the language of the psalmist. The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of hell got hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord, I was speechless, O Lord deliver me." That's how it all started. But whether it started like that or not, it certainly continued like that. I love the Lord because He heard my prayer and my supplication. Therefore, I will call upon the name of the Lord. And then as the Christian life commences and continues, it concludes in the celestial fashion. Those words of the Psalms, I will call upon the name of the Lord, he says, as long as I live. As long as I live. And with those words you see the Lord's servant was acknowledging that he wasn't going to live forever. But he said, as long as I do it, you will find me calling upon the name of the Lord. The recognition allowed fact that he was going to die, but until he would die, he would be found calling upon the name of the Lord. There came a day when he called upon the name of the Lord. From that day he had been calling on the name of the Lord. And now he says, until I die, I will be calling on the name of the Lord. And my friends, you see, the end of our life on earth is determined by what went before. A very foolish man in the pages of the Old Testament called Balaam. Balaam was hired by the king of Moab to go and curse the children of Israel just as they were going into the land of Canaan. Now he wasn't able to curse them because the Lord stopped him in his tracks. And instead of cursing them, he ended up blessing them. And as he viewed the children of Israel, he spoke these words. He said, let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last day be like his. Let me die the death of the righteous. But the trouble is, he had never lived the life of the righteous. There are plenty of people who want to die as Christians, but who will not live as Christians. Master Henry, Master Henry Smaller, believe me, Philip Henry, he used to say this in the Courses, like Lord Brown, that when it comes to my time to die, I might have nothing to do but die. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Let me die the death of the righteous, but there's a lot that has to go before that. As Saint John used it, show me what I have to do, every hour I strengthen you, let me live a life of faith, let me die thy people's death. And the way that we die, the death of anyone who belongs to the people of God, we call on to the name of the Lord. We go on calling on the name of the Lord. And until the end of our life, we're found calling on the name of the Lord. We're to do those things now, or see to those things now. Again, some of those simple words that we use every day, but they become so meaningful when they're set in the pages of the Word of God. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. And you see, on any occasion, when the Lord draws near to us, reading the verse, singing His praise, listening to the preaching of the Gospel, while He is near, then we call upon the name of the Lord. We will Gospel Him of another day, like the best was buried, like the falling of a leaf, like the dying of a sheep, Be in time. Be in time. And then when it comes to the hour of our death, Stephen, the young Mark, had a unique death in one sense, but at the same time, the principles of it apply to us all. Remember how they stoned Stephen, who in prayer is preaching, and they stoned him, it says, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my strength. While they were lifting up the stones to stone him, he was lifting up this call on the Lord to receive him. And the Lord heard him and received him. And those words of Stephen are really an echo of the seeker's own person when he came to the end of his life on the cross. And when Jesus had cried aloud to Christ, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And when he said this, he gave up the cross. Christ is received back into glory on account of having finished the work of our salvation. And we are received into glory when it comes to the end of our life by trusting in that work that he accomplished. And as those servants of the Lord stood that day in the city of Jerusalem Well, they say, this is what God spoke of, this and this and this, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that call, my friend, is still with us today, still as relevant, still as faithfully given as it was ever given, and while it's still the day of grace, If you have never called on the name of the Lord, call on Him now, while He is near, while He is near. And then you can rejoice, and you can live your life, and continue your life, and when the conclusion of your life comes, then you can be assured that He will receive you, for Christ's sake.