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S P U R G E O N By C H A R L E S H A D D O N S P U R G E O N. |
nto us who are called." I received a note this
week asking me to explain that word "called"; because in one passage
it says, "Many are called but few are chosen," while in another it appears
that all who are called must be chosen. Now, let me observe that there are two calls.
As my old friend, John Bunyan, says, the hen has two calls, the common cluck, which
she gives daily and hourly, and the special one, which she means for her little chickens.
So there is a general call, a call made to every man; every man hears it. Many are
called by it; all you are called this morning in that sense, but very few are chosen.
The other is a special call, the children's call. You know how the bell sounds over
the workshop, to call the men to work–that is a general call. A father goes to the
door and calls out, "John, it is dinner time"–that is the special call.
Many are called with the general call, but they are not chosen; the special call
is for the children only, and that is what is meant in the text, "Unto us who
are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God." That
call is always a special one. While I stand here and call men, nobody comes; while
I preach to sinners universally, no good is done; it is like the sheet lightning
you sometimes see on the summer's evening, beautiful, grand; but whoever heard of
anything being struck by it? But the special call is the forked flash from heaven;
it strikes somewhere; it is the arrow sent in between the joints of the harness.
The call which saves is like that of Jesus, when he said "Mary," and she
said unto him "Rabonni." Do you know anything about that special call,
my beloved? Did Jesus ever call you by name? Canst thou recollect the hour when he
whispered thy name in thine ear, when he said, "Come to me"? If so, you
will grant the truth of what I am going to say next about it–that it is an effectual
call; there is no resisting it. When God calls with his special call, there is no
standing out. Ah! I know I laughed at religion; I despised, I abhorred it; but that
call! Oh, I would not come. But God said, "Thou shalt come. All that the Father
giveth to me shall come." "Lord, I will not." "But thou shalt,"
said God. And I have gone up to God's house sometimes almost with a resolution that
I would not listen, but listen I must. Oh, how the word came into my soul! Was there
a power of resistance? No; I was thrown down; each bone seemed to be broken; I was
saved by effectual grace.
-from Christ Crucified
A Sermon (No. 7-8) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 11, 1855, by the REV. C.H.
SPURGEON At Exeter Hall, Strand. "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews
a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." —1 Corinthians
1:23-24.
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