Mark 3:13

CALLING AND ELECTION

‘And they came unto Him.’

Mark 3:13

I. Here is the evidence of our calling.—We come because He calls. Let us not trouble ourselves with the doctrine of election. Let each one ask himself the question, ‘Have I come to Jesus?’ If you have, then Christ has called you, and you have heard that call. You are one of the elect, for you have come to Jesus. In order to answer the question, “Am I one of the elect?’ first ask another: ‘Have I come to Jesus?’ ‘Am I one of the elect?’ is not the first question. ‘Have I come?’ is the first. Your answer to this question will be the answer—the only answer—to the other. Are you at His feet?

II. All who hear His voice go ‘unto Him.’—‘My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.’ Take care you make no mistake here. Take care it is to Him you go. There are many voices all around you. God’s call is to come first to Jesus. This is the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus first—‘Jesus only.’

III. That they should be with Him.—Mark the important word here—‘with Him.’ He called them ‘ unto Him.’ For what purpose? That they should be ‘with Him.’ We were redeemed that we should walk with God. We were bought with His blood that we should be ‘with Him,’ that we should never leave His side, that we should have Him nearer to us than any earthly friend, however near or dear. Why are so many satisfied with having been ‘called unto Him,’ and care so little about being ‘ with Him’? Most of God’s people are walking at a distance. They have forgotten why the Saviour called them—‘that they should be with Him.’ This is the only tenure on which you hold the great blessings of redemption. You have no right to one of them except on this condition—that you walk with God.

—Rev. F. Whitfield.