The Heavenly Calling!

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Pastor Russ Andrews will walk us through Scripture to answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information and to connect with Russ Andrews and Finding Purpose, you can visit us online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Now let's listen to Russ Andrews as he teaches us how to be a Christian without being religious. And dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son into this world, and Lord Jesus, we thank You for coming into this sanctuary with us tonight. As Stefan and I prayed a few minutes ago, actually Stefan prayed that Your Spirit would just penetrate every square inch of this sanctuary and really our hearts. And I pray that tonight, Lord, if there's someone sitting here who's never heard, You call to Him in a real tangible way.

The rite of Hebrews calls it a heavenly calling. I pray that He will hear You call Him tonight with these words, come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And that's a promise that He will fulfill because He's faithful to keep all of His promises. And so I pray that tonight You'll listen to what God has to say from Hebrews 3. And I pray to Heavenly Father that Your Word will go forth and accomplish the very purpose for which You intend. It's in Your name that I pray.

Amen. Lord, if you have your Bibles with you, I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 3. I've entitled this, The Heavenly Calling. And we're going to be in Hebrews 3, but I'm going to take you back to Genesis. In Genesis chapter 4, we learned that Cain killed his brother Abel.

It's the first murder recorded in the Bible. How did God respond to this? Well, the Lord said to Cain, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opens its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crop for you. Now catch this. God told Cain, you will be a restless wanderer on the earth. You come here tonight. Do you feel like a restless wanderer? Are you wondering, are you questioning, what is life really all about? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?

And what's going to happen to me when I die? Listen, living your life without God is what makes you restless. Nothing of this world ever brings true satisfaction. And so from the moment of our birth, man, we are restless for something.

Or should I say for someone? St. Augustine, who lived during the early 5th century A.D., has given to the world perhaps the greatest sentence of all time. He said, you made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is what?

Restless until it rests in you. You made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. Listen, Augustine was a great sinner who struggled with something that a lot of men struggle with.

What is that? Lust. Fortunately, his mother Monica prayed for him constantly. In 384 at the age of 30, by the providence of God, Augustine found himself in the city of Milan where he began listening to a great preacher and orator by the name of Ambrose, who could also match his intellectual genius. And over the course of time, Augustine found himself being drawn to God through Ambrose's preaching. One day he was in a courtyard with a friend when he heard some children on the other side of this brick wall and they were singing, just pick it up and read it.

Pick it up and read it. And so he ran over to, he took that as a call from God, directing him to go read his Bible. And actually his friend was holding up his Bible. And so he ran back to his friend because he'd wandered away and he said, let me see that Bible. He says when he opened it up, it fell open to Romans chapter 13, verses 13 and 14, which you'll see was a passage that nailed him about his sin.

Here's what Paul writes in Romans 13 and 14, let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy, rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Later Augustine said, I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to, for instantly as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty, and all the gloom of doubt vanished away. What happened to Augustine in that moment is what happens to every single believer. He heard the effectual call from God. It was his own personal heavenly calling. Did y'all know that there are two types of calling from God?

I don't know that I really knew that until I studied this week. The first is known as the external call of the gospel that goes out to the entire world. I want you to think about what Billy Graham did for 70 years.

What did he do? He proclaimed the gospel all over the entire world. That calling was both universal and external in nature. Sadly, however, the vast majority of people that you'll hear today reject that external call from God. When they hear the gospel, they just turn away from it. Often it's just from indifference. They don't really care. That's the way it is in America today. So many people just don't care. They're indifferent. The second type of call is the internal call of God by the Holy Spirit, and only those who've been chosen before the creation of the world actually hear this call.

They're known as what? The elect. The call that you really want to hear is the internal call of the Holy Spirit saying, come to me. Paul explains it like this in Romans chapter 8, verses 28 through 30. He says, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, what that means is that before creation began, everyone here is a believer, He foreknew you as belonging to His family.

That's what that word foreknew means. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed into the likeness of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called.

You hear that? Those He called, He also justified. Those He justified, He also glorified. John McCarthy explains this in the glorified.

John McCarthy explains it like this. Scripture reveals a truth about this call. It is a summons that cannot be ignored and it cannot be resisted.

It is a subpoena to appear before God in His court for the purpose of being declared righteous, being declared just, having all of your sins forgiven, and being set free from judgment or any condemnation. He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He didn't call you out of darkness hoping you'd come. He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

And that's where you went when He called you. When He called you, you came into His body and you became a part of the body of Christ. You came into the fellowship. You became holy. You were sanctified so that one day you'll be what?

Glorified. It is in that sense, MacArthur says, an unyielding summons from God that you will respond to. That is why theologians have called it irresistible grace. How can you know whether or not you share in this heavenly calling? Well, that brings us to Hebrews chapter 3. Therefore, when you see the word therefore, what are you supposed to ask?

What's it there for? Okay, so we'll come back to that in a minute. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the build of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the build of all things is who? God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are His house.

Did you hear that? We are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence in our boasting and our hope. Now back to that question. How do you know whether you actually share in this heavenly calling? Well, I want to point to four conditions from this passage. They're actually, there are more than four, but I don't have time but to cover four, and these are four of the most important ones. By the way, each one of these conditions must apply to you, all four of them.

Here's the first one. You must have been set apart unto God. He picks you up. He sets you apart unto Himself. Look at verse one. Therefore, what kind of brothers? Holy brothers. You who share in the heavenly calling.

This word holy simply means to be set apart unto God. You've been separated from the world, from sin, and from Satan. You belong to God. Therefore, you can and should be called a brother, and that's why if you sit here tonight and you're in Christ, then you're my brother, or you're my sister. My wife is my sister. Did you know that?

Figured that one out. Gosh, we're not going there. See, when you've been set apart unto God, you belong to the family of God, and you're covered by the blood of Christ. See, that's what it means to share in this heavenly calling. This world, listen, is no longer your home, and you no longer feel at home here.

Do you know what I mean? You are a citizen of the kingdom of God, and heaven is your real home now. I love this passage in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 13 through 16 where the writer, we'll be getting to this later on in the spring. All these all these people, it's talking about the people in the Old Testament, were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they'd been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He is what?

He's prepared a city for them. I became a believer when I was about, I don't know, 10, 11, or 12, sometimes. I mean, I don't know how to remember. I could have walked away from this anytime I wanted to, but you know what? I don't want to. I'm not turning back.

I'm not going back now. I've slipped and fallen plenty of times, but I'm still headed for heaven, and that's where I want to go. See, those who share in this heavenly calling, we live by faith. We as brothers walk by faith, not by sight. Those who share this heavenly calling feel like strangers and aliens in this world.

Do you feel like that sometimes, and people don't get you? Ask yourself, how comfortable do you feel in this world? Would you rather hang out with your friends who are still living their lives without Christ, or would you rather come here on Tuesday night and hang out with your brothers?

That's really a big question you need to answer. Those who share this heavenly calling are longing for heaven. We've lost our affections for this world. We're no longer attached to the things of earth, and we have our eyes fixed upon Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith.

So let me ask you something. Does that describe you? Are you longing for heaven? Do you have your eyes fixed on Jesus, or are you consumed with getting more? Second, your thoughts are constantly on Jesus.

Now I don't mean every single second, but I mean you get up in the morning, and he's typically the first one you think about, and you're thinking about him all throughout the day. Look at verse one again. It says, Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.

This word consider comes from the root of a Latin word for star, and it originally meant to contemplate the star. So when you see, when it says consider Jesus, it suggests the idea of an astronomer who is quietly, patiently concentrating his gaze at the stars to discover all that he can possibly know about them. And that's the way we're to gaze upon Jesus. Do you gaze upon Jesus to the point where you fall in love with him?

It's like a treasure that you discovered, and you can't wait to go out there and share it with somebody? The rite of Hebrews, when he says the word therefore, this is I'm coming back to it, what's it there for? He wants us to look back at chapters one and two, and the reason he wants us to look back is because we're to continuously consider, gaze upon, think about, meditate upon both who Jesus is and what he's done for us. That's what we sing about at night.

We sing about who Jesus is and what he's done for us. In chapter one, we learned that Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. He is the creator and sustainer of all things.

Do you think I'm worried about global warming? Who's sustaining and keeping charge over the thermostat? Jesus. Jesus sits at the right hand of God.

Do you know what he's doing while he's sitting there? He's praying for you and me so that we won't fall into temptation. Jesus shared, we learned in chapter two, in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy, listen to this, the one who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free us who all our lives have been held in slavery by our own fear of what? Death. The hospital is full of people who are dying. We were praying for people tonight in our Bible study about men who are at the point of death. I've got a friend of mine right now that I've been praying for. He's at the point of death.

I'm going to see him tomorrow. But guess what? Guess what? If you know Christ, then the fear of death has been taken away from you because you know that death is just a doorway that lets you into paradise, which is where your home is. Jesus was made like us, his brothers, in every way in order that he might become our merciful and faithful high priest. Did you know the Bible says that Jesus has been tempted in every way that you and I have been tempted, which blows me away because I've been tempted in some really bad ways.

Have you? So Jesus is not up there like the whack-a-mole at the state fair, you know, when you go out there and you wait for the mole to stick his head up and you whack his head off. That's the way people think of God.

Jesus up there, he loves us. And when you fall into some sin, he's not condemning you. He understands.

He actually gets it. He just wants you to recognize that sin for what it is and turn away from it because he wants your life to be full of joy and peace and contentment and rest. So you think about these things during the daytime, but who Jesus is and what he's done for you.

If not, what occupies your mind most of the time? Those who share in this heavenly calling think about Jesus every day and all throughout the day. Now listen carefully. Third, and this is probably the most important one, to share in this heavenly calling you must have a personal, what, relationship, but testimony, a confession. Look at verse 1 again. We're going to get to verse 18 by tomorrow.

Look at verse 1 again. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of what? Our confession. So what does it mean to have a personal testimony or confession? It means that you had a personal encounter with the living Lord. By the way, he's still alive and he still gets what? Flesh and blood. And it's like what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus.

Oh, they're probably not that dramatic. I mean, Paul actually heard Jesus with his physical ears and he saw him with his eyes. In fact, he was blinded and he fell to the ground. You probably have not seen him with your physical eyes or heard him with your physical ears, although there are people in the Middle East who are having that. That's another sermon. So let me ask you this. Have you heard Jesus with the ears of your heart, seen him with the eyes of your heart? Do you understand what I'm even talking about? If you don't really understand it, then listen carefully.

So how does this happen to a man? Well, when a man is born again, here's what happens. Remember Jesus said, when I go away, I'm going to send another counselor to be with you. He will be the spirit of truth and he will guide you into all truth. So when a man is born again, the Holy Spirit enters that man into his spirit supernaturally and lifts the veil and gives him spiritual understanding. This is why Jesus was always saying, let him who has ears what? Here. Do you think he was talking about these ears?

No. He's talking about the ears of your heart. Paul explains it like this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it's like, you know, a man's read the Bible right here and there's actually a veil over it. He can read the words, but there's a veil. He doesn't understand what it says. So even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

The God of this age, who would that be? Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they could not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who's the image of God. This is why, listen, most of your friends don't get it. When you try to explain to them what's happened to you, they don't understand because they're spiritually blind.

So what is the solution? Well, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 where he writes, even in this day when Moses is written, and all they had was the Old Testament when that was written. So what he was saying that even today when the Jews read the Old Testament, even to this day when men read the Bible, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Those who have heard the heavenly call of God, you know what they do? They turn to Jesus because they find Him irresistible. In that moment, the veil is taken away, and they begin to see and understand spiritual truths. Do you see how faith must precede understanding? Here's what you got to do. You got to trust God first.

You got to say, Lord, I believe you. In that moment, the Holy Spirit will invade your heart and He will give you, He'll lift the veil. Gosh, you'll be able to understand what the Bible is talking about and what Christians are all excited about.

And then you'll have eyes that see and ears that hear. Fourth, to share in this heavenly calling, you must belong to God. Did you know that when we're born, we don't belong to God?

The Bible says that we are God's enemies, that we're actually under His wrath. Look at verses five and six. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence in our boasting in our Lord. See, God created us to know Him. And the only way that we can know Him is if He comes in and dwells our heart.

But here's a warning. Romans 8, 9 says, You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he what?

Does not belong to Christ. So here's technically, the only way a person can be a Christian is if you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Most church members believe they belong to God simply because they attend church. Not true. Most church members believe they belong to God because they see themselves as good people. Most church members believe they belong to God because they've been baptized or confirmed and have recited the apostles' creed and the Lord's prayer.

That's not true. You see, there are no outward actions that can save a man. You don't become a child of God through religious striving. Jesus said you must what? Be born again. Would you like to know that you're a child of God tonight if you don't already?

Then listen carefully. In Matthew 11, 28 and 29, these are two of my favorite verses in the Bible. Jesus says, because it shows the heart of God. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you what? Rest. You see, that's what the world wants. The world's out there just running around out of control, stressed and anxious.

And what everybody wants is to go sit by a pond with a straw hanging out of your mouth with a cane pole and look at the beautiful clouds go by. That's a picture of the kind of rest that God wants you to give you in your soul. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Do you come here tonight weary and burdened?

If so, well first let me tell you what not to do. Look at verses 7 through 18. Guys, I'm going to go through this very quickly. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to test and saw my works for 40 years. Remember they all died in the desert because they were what? Grumbling and disobeying and wanting to go back to Egypt. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation said they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways as I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.

And so they all died in the desert if they were over the age of 20. Never enter the promised land. Take care brothers lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort encourage one another every day as long it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You see sin can never deliver what it promises. In fact, it delivers the opposite. It comes in a beautiful package.

You open up and it's a bomb that explodes in your face. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end as it is said today. Listen, tonight if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that so God actually took an oath that they would not enter his rest. He did that to those who were disobedient.

So we see that here's the key that they were unable to enter because of what? Unbelief. There's only one sin that can keep you out of heaven. It's the sin of unbelief.

Every other sin, rape, murder, incest, theft, adultery, God can deal with all those sins. He cannot deal with with a man who will not believe him. Twice the Lord says do not harden your hearts. If you're hearing the call of God right now do not turn away.

Why? Because if you turn away from God even if it's just indifference then you will never enter God's rest. What does it mean to enter God's rest? If you never enter God's rest it means that you will be a restless wanderer like Cain the rest of your life.

You will never find men. Peace and joy and contentment. And listen if you remain in a state of unbelief and often it's just indifference.

I'm just telling you the truth. You will never enter heaven. A place of eternal joy and peace and contentment and everlasting rest. Revelation 14 13 says, Then I heard a voice from heaven say, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor for their deeds will follow them. Hear that? They will rest from their labor.

This may sound shocking to you but my family knows it's true. I can't wait till I die. Now I don't want to go through the dying process but I'm ready to go because I know that when I die I will enter a place called paradise and there I will rest from all labor forever. The laboring of my mind from stress worry and anxiety will be no more. The laboring of my body due to physical pain declining health and aging will be no more. The laboring of my soul from moments of darkness and depression.

I bet some of you are dealing with that right now. Will be no more. In that moment, man, I will experience joy and peace like Russ Andrews has never known because I will be in the dwelling place of God and Jesus himself will be with me and Jesus will wipe every tear from my eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or pain or crying for the old order things the Bible says will have passed away. I believe this with all my heart.

Do you know why? Because there will be no more. Because the one who promises all this is faithful to keep all of his promises and he has said I am making everything new and he told John write this down. Write it down, John, because these words are trustworthy and true. Everything in this book, man, is true. I've staked my life on it. So in closing, how should you respond if you're hearing the call of God right now?

Let me tell you how to respond. If you hear, if you sense the Holy Spirit speaking to you right this moment, saying come to me, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That's affirmed in Romans 10 13 which says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I believe that God is calling you to come to him.

Now all you have to do is call on him. Would you right now? I want everybody to bow your heads. Everybody please close your eyes.

Heads down, eyes closed. If you're sitting here tonight and you sense God calling you to come home, to come to him and you want to respond to him, I'm not going to ask you to come forward but I am going to ask you to lift your hand up. Tell me, Father, you can put your hands down. You see the hands that were raised. I pray with all my heart, Lord. I still feel like there's someone else that wants to raise his hand but he's just afraid to.

He doesn't understand. Lord, lift the veil from their hearts. Let them know how much you love them, that you created them to know you and that you're preparing a place for them in heaven but you can, they can only enter if they come to you. So, Lord, help them come. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Being a Christian is not about being religious but about having a dynamic, alive relationship with Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Pastor Russ Andrews, a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living. You can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to Finding Purpose on Facebook. Pastor Russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local triangle men to study God's Word together every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in downtown Raleigh. Find out more at findingpurpose.net. This is the Truth Network.