Well, how did God bring me to himself? How did he call you to himself? And what happened in that sovereign act of his? It's a question Pastor John addressed in a 2010 sermon on 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 26-31, and it's a clip sent in to us from a listener named Sue, who never forgot it.

She loves this clip. She wanted to share it with us. It's a good one. Here now is Pastor John. Both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. So when the called look at Christ crucified, they don't see stumbling block. They don't see folly.

They see power. So there are three groups, right? Three groups in those verses. Number one, Jews. Number two, Gentiles. Number three, called. That's not quite accurate, is it? Let me say it a little more carefully. There are Jews who are not called, Gentiles who are not called, and Jews and Gentiles who are called.

Those are the three groups. Are you with me? We're considering our calling. We're obeying verse 26. There are Jews not called, Gentiles not called, Jews and Gentiles, some of whom are called. And then he describes the response of each to the cross. Jews, yeah, stumbling block. Crucified Messiah, never heard of such a thing.

Gentiles, foolishness. A dying God, silly, mythological. Called, power, my God. What kind of call is that? I'll tell you what kind of call it is. It's the kind of call that creates what it commands. The call gives light. The call creates sight. The call raises the dead. Lazarus, come forth.

He didn't decide to. The call raised him from the dead. Let me give you an analogy that could be misleading. It helps me. Just to get your handle on it, because lots of you have never been taught about the call of God. The mighty, effectual, irresistible, powerful, saving, awakening, life-giving call of God that saved you.

You've never been taught about this. So you need a little analogy to help you. What is he talking about? I've never heard anything like this. I thought I just believed in Jesus. Suppose somebody is asleep and you want to wake them up. What do you do? Well, you bend over.

They're sound asleep. You bend over them and you say, "Wake up!" And they bolt right upright. Now, what are the dynamics of that moment? They were sound asleep and bang, they were awake. Did they hear the call and say, "I'll think about that before I wake up. And then I'll decide if I want to wake up." This is a good analogy.

When God issues a call to your dead heart and says, "Wake up!" You wake up. You did not make yourself a Christian. Just face it. You didn't make yourself a Christian, which is why you should feel so incredibly loved. In fact, if you need a text to say that, just go to Ephesians 2, verse 4, where Paul says just as clearly as can be, "Because of his great love," it's the only place he uses that phrase in all the New Testament, "Because of his great love, he made you alive when you were dead." So if you have any spiritual life in you at all, you have been greatly loved.

It's called regeneration. It's called calling. You have been called and you are greatly loved in this calling. God loved you by putting you in Christ. Verse 30, "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus." That's pretty clear. In the original, very, very literally, it would go, "From him are you in Christ Jesus." Or, "Of him are you in Christ Jesus." "Because" is probably a pretty good translation.

"Because of his doing, because of his work, you are in Christ Jesus." So he chose you before the foundation of the world. He, through Billy Graham or a preacher or your mom's testimony or reading the Bible or hearing a worship song or however he wanted to do it as far as human agency goes, he spoke the word, "Wake up!" or, "Come!" or, "Live!" And you suddenly stopped seeing the cross as folly.

You stopped seeing the cross as boring. You stopped seeing the cross as mythological. You stopped seeing the cross as a stumbling block. And suddenly it was what you needed and true. And you embraced it. You embraced it. Because God woke you up, changed your heart. And when in that time you were united to Christ.

Back in when we were talking about the doctrine of regeneration or the new birth, I tried to explain how calling, regeneration, faith, union with Christ are simultaneous. There are causal connections here, but there aren't temporal gaps. In an instant, in an instant, he wakened you from the dead. Your eyes now went, "Tch!" And what you saw was a glorious Christ.

And in seeing him as glorious, you were a believer. You were. That's what believer means. He's glorious. He's Savior. He's Lord. He's mine. That's what it is to see him for what he really is. And in that moment, you were united to Jesus. Which means God loved you by making Christ your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Verse 30, "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus." So God awakened you, united you to Christ so that you have a vital union with Jesus. You're connected with him maybe like a vine and a branch. Who, that is Christ, became to us, are you with me in verse 30?

Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So when you unite with Christ, all that he is now, you are without making you God. All the benefits that are in him, all the inheritance that is in him, all that he ever purchased, all the obedience he ever performed, all the forgiveness he ever purchased, you now have by virtue of union with him which you feel by faith and God worked sovereignly.

He has become through God's loving you this way, everything for you. Which is why when I walked in tonight and heard the worship team rehearsing, I said, "Hallelujah, all I have is Christ." Hallelujah, Jesus is my life. I said to Chuck, "Okay, I'm doing an audible here. I had a hymn picked out for the end.

Bang, we're going to do that." All I have is Christ, verse 30, right? If I need wisdom, he's my wisdom. If I need righteousness, he's my righteousness. If I need sanctification, redemption, you are loved, Bethlehem. You are loved, sons and daughters of God, because God chose you for himself.

Secondly, you are loved because he called you to himself. Number three, you are loved because he united you to Christ. And four, by making you one with Christ, Christ becomes everything you need. That's a sermon clip from Pastor John's sermon, "Consider Your Calling," preached on April 25, 2010 at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and sent to us by a listener named Sue, who says, "My husband and I had the privilege of attending Bethlehem Baptist Church from 2002 to 2015 when we lived in Minneapolis.

We now live in North Carolina." Thank you, Sue, for the clip. I suspect you first heard it live, and I appreciate you sending it in. No matter how you find them, send us your favorite sermon clips of Pastor John. Give me the title of the sermon and the time stamp from the audio of when the clip begins and ends.

Tell me why it's impacted you. Give me your name, closest city, and email me all those details. AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. Put the word "clip" in the subject line, please, if you would. And who knows, maybe we can share it here on the podcast. Next up, how do we raise kids in this world who are not naive and who are not cynical?

Not naive, not cynical. It's a fantastic charity question from a dad, a listener to the podcast named Rick in Fort Worth, Texas. That's up next time on Friday. I'm Tony Reinke, and we will see you then. Thank you.