Calling Upon The Name Of The Lord
Kent E. Heaton Sr.
In the final moments of life and with final words, a voice cries out, “Lord Jesus save me.” As an invitation is given to those who need to obey the message of salvation, a plea is given, “Accept Christ as your personal Savior and you will be saved.” A tract concludes with the statement that if the reader would rehearse a simple prayer to ask the Lord to come into their hearts that salvation would be given. Can salvation be assured only by “calling on the name of the Lord?”
“Calling upon the name of the Lord” is a doctrine of God’s holy Word. This phrase is found twice in the New Testament – Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13. Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost and Paul in his writing to the Romans, quote from Joel 2:32. How are we to understand the meaning of “calling upon the name of the Lord?”
The setting for Acts 2:21 is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the twelve apostles of Christ as He had given them direction to linger in Jerusalem “until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) As the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in tongues (languages) and the people were amazed and perplexed, “saying to one another, ‘whatsoever could this mean?’ Others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine.'” Peter begins to explain what is happening and says, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel,” and then quotes Joel 2:28-32. It is here we find the statement of Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Peter continues in his sermon to preach about Jesus (Acts 2:22-36) with the conclusion in verse 36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Convicted in their hearts concerning the message of the Christ, the question is asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” These people wanted to know what to do to be saved. Peter did not tell them to accept Christ as their personal Savior nor just to call upon Him – rather Peter said: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Calling upon the name of the Lord means to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.
Paul quotes Joel 2:32 in his letter to Rome in Romans 10:13. In the context of Romans 10, he explains this to include submission (v 3), confession and belief (v 8-13) and the necessity of preaching (vv 14-17). Romans 10:17 affirms the meaning of “calling upon the name of the Lord” when Paul writes: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith is respondent upon hearing the word of God and believing it.
Salvation is something beyond just saying some words. Further, the letter written to the Romans includes the same teaching of Peter in Acts 2 – baptism is necessary for salvation. Calling upon the name of the Lord affirms baptism as seen in Romans 6. This reflects the same action taken by Paul in Acts 22:16, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
Salvation is more than calling upon the name of the Lord as men teach today. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
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Paul the AgedGary Henry
When he wrote his short letter to Philemon, Paul was an old man. We don’t know exactly how old he was, but he was no longer young. He could call himself “Paul, the aged.” We live in a day when being “aged” is nothing to brag about. It is no longer viewed as being desirable in any significant way. Today, hardly anything can be imagined that would be worse than being old. Everybody wants to GROW old, but nobody wants to BE old. Most younger people flatter themselves that they’ll live a long time, but having done so, they won’t look old, dress old, or act old. Old age itself is despised, and it is assumed by our culture that agedness should be camouflaged in every way possible, as if the reality of being old were something to be embarrassed about. I wish we could see that it’s not old age that is undesirable, but only the disabilities that often come with it. What repels us is the thought that when we have reached that point in life where we have the most to offer, our bodies (including our brains) have often become so dilapidated that our ability to function is seriously hindered. It is the decrepitude of old age that is unwanted, the ravages wrought by time on the bodies in which our souls dwell. Because of the decline of our physical “tabernacle,” old age in this world can be a trying experience. In the Scriptures, we are warned to enjoy the years of our lives before our bodies begin to wear out. “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come …” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). But even so, there is a sense in which we ought to look forward to being like “Paul, the aged.” Our last years can be our very best. And more than that, we ought to look forward to Heaven and the state of being that we’ll enjoy then. In our resurrected and glorified bodies, we’ll enjoy an eternal maturity and wisdom that are unhindered by the disabilities that affect our joy and usefulness in this world. We will be perfectly “aged.” We’ll enjoy all the advantages of having “grown up” without any of the disadvantages! “Eternity has no gray hairs! The flowers fade, the heart withers, man grows old and dies, the world lies down in the sepulcher of ages, but time writes no wrinkles on the brow of eternity” (Reginald Heber). — via Word Points, September 10, 2012 |
“Yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you — being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ” (Philemon 9).__________
Applying God’s Word
Mike Johnson
People often hear the Word of God but are not willing to obey it. Some may intend to obey, but they never seem to get around to it. It is not enough to be a hearer only or know God’s Word: we must be willing to obey it.
Notice an interesting comparison made in James 1:22-25.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Imagine a man looking into a mirror before he leaves the house every morning, seeing things such as a crooked tie, messed-up hair, food on his face, and his shirt unbuttoned. However, all he does is look; he never makes any changes.
Similarly, many people are doing the same thing with the Word of God. They look into the mirror of God’s Word, but when they see certain aspects of their life lacking, they make no changes. We must apply God’s Word for it to be effective.
Consider the following story.
It Must Be Applied
A gospel preacher met an acquaintance, a soap manufacturer, on the street. All about the two men was evidence of worldliness and sin, in the flashing signs advertising liquor, in the shadowy stairways leading to questionable places of amusement, and even in the language tossed into the air by a careless throng of pedestrians.
“Your religion hasn’t done any good; otherwise, there would be no sinful people like we see here,” said the friend to the preacher.
As they walked on, they came near a little boy playing in the gutter, his hands muddy, his clothes filthy–and the preacher pointed him out:
“Your soap hasn’t done any good, or else this child would not be so dirty.”
“But, of course, the soap has to be applied before it will do any good,” replied the man.
“How true,” the preacher answered, “and so does religion have to be applied to the hearts and lives of sinners before it will do them any good!”
(Author Unknown)
In Luke 6:46, Jesus said, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.”
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Are We Sure It Doesn’t Matter
Greg Gwin
Imagine yourself walking into a drug store to have a prescription filled. You hand the pharmacist the form from your doctor, and then watch in amazement as he throws it in the wastebasket without even reading it. Then, without reading the label, he hands you a bottle of pills. By now, you’ve gotten your nerve up, and you ask,
“Man, what are you doing?” “Well he answers, “I’m giving you some medicine.”
“But you didn’t read the prescription, and you didn’t even look at the label on these pills.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “Medicine is medicine – one pill is as good as another.”
“No sir!” you object, “I want the pills that my doctor prescribed, and no others”.
There’s very little chance that you will ever visit that drug store again. Common sense says that this is no way to handle the important business of our physical health.
Why not allow the same kind of common sense to help us in the far more important realm of spiritual things? For some reason, folks have decided that “anything goes” in religion. “Join the church of your choice” has become more than a mere slogan – it is the rule that most people live by. “One church is just as good as another”, we are told. How can this possibly be so?
Jesus said, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). Note that the Lord says that some worship is “vain”, meaning worthless or good for nothing. He goes on to explain why it is worthless – because it follows the commandments of men rather than the will of God (Col. 3:17). Are you sure that one church is as good as another? Think!
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Wednesday Night Services
Whitt Sasser
* At Wednesday night services, the Bible is taught, the word of God Almighty.
* Wednesday night services increase our faith as we better understand and appreciate the unsearchable riches of God.
* Wednesday night services are a midweek respite from life in a sinful world, a recharge of our spiritual batteries.
* Wednesday night services help prepare us to meet life’s challenges.
* Wednesday night services help build stronger character.
* Wednesday night services provide an opportunity to associate with brethren and encourage each other.
* Wednesday night services provide an opportunity to bring others with you to hear the gospel of Christ.
* Wednesday night services enable us to join our hearts in prayer and praising God in song.
* Wednesday night services may be the time when you hear some truth that will change your life forever.
If you don’t attend Wednesday night services… What do you do with that time? How does that activity compare to these blessings? Which activity will better help you go to heaven? Which is a better use of your time?
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Sermon Audio
Ken Green
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Editor: Mike Johnson