the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
1 Corinthians 1:24
‘Them which are called’
Read 1 Corinthians 1:9-31
Did you know that God calls some sinners to life and faith in Christ, and does not call others? Most people think that God calls all men, that God seeks all men and that God is trying to save all men. But nothing of the kind is taught in the Word of God. God calls some and passes by others. He gives light to some and leaves others in darkness. ‘He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy.’ When God intends to save a sinner he calls that sinner with a personal, particular and distinguishing call. This is clearly the teaching of Holy Scripture.
You have read what the Scripture says about the Good Shepherd: ‘He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out’ (John 10:3). He does not call everyone. ‘He calleth his own sheep.’ They are his own sheep because God the Father gave them to him, entrusting them to his care, in the covenant of grace, in eternal election, before the world began. They are his own sheep because he died for them. ‘The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11). The Lord Jesus Christ did not die for all men. He died for his sheep. He purchased them with his own precious blood. Justice held us in bondage, condemned, but Christ paid the price that justice demanded, suffering our condemnation and bought us. We are his property.
‘He calleth his own sheep by name.’ That is to say, ‘He does not call all men in a general way, leaving it to man to decide who will and who will not come. Rather, he calls those sheep who were given to him and purchased by him. He calls them personally, one by one.’
And this divine call distinguishes the sheep of Christ from all other men, because, when he calls his sheep, ‘He leadeth them out and they follow him’. This is how we know who God’s elect are. The Shepherd calls them, they hear his voice and they follow him. Those who are not called by him, those who do not hear his voice, those who do not follow him are not among the number of his chosen, elect sheep. But those who are ‘the called’ are saved. God’s call is always effectual. It always results in salvation.
