IS IT TRUE THAT ONE MUST FIRST BE CALLED BY GOD IN ORDER TO BE SAVED?

John 6:65: And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it was given unto him of my Father.

How does this happen? When the gospel message that God the Father gave to Jesus to give to us is preached, the good news message about the coming Kingdom of God, that message carries with it the power of God's Holy Spirit that enables those who hear to come to believe in Him and in His beloved son Jesus, and in that way, it is given to them by God the Father Yehovah.

Those who reject the message and reject the drawing power of God's Spirit will not come to believe in the Lord Jesus.

John 6:44: No man can come to me, except the Father who has sent me - commissioned me to draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

God draws men/women by the foolishness of the preaching of the good news about the coming Kingdom of God which they need to believe in order to be saved!

Luke 8:10-12: And he said, Unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God - the word about the kingdom (Mat:13:19). Those by the way side are they that hear; then comes the devil, and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

So we see that Satan - the devil does his best to see that those who hear the word about the Kingdom are deceived by false religion and thus takes the word out of their hearts lest they should believe. That deception has been taking place since Jesus' resurrection and continues to this day. The one message Satan does not want proclaimed and published is the gospel - the good news message about the coming Kingdom of God. It should make one wonder why we don't hear any preaching about that coming Kingdom when that is all that Jesus talked about.

Notice:

The work of the Son in calling - John 5:24-26

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hearsm my word and believes in Him who sent me has ege upon age lasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death [the second death] into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear [act upon it] will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the son to have life in himself...

Jesus is still speaking today not audibly but effectually:

Ephesians 2:17: And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
The he here is Jesus who during his earthly ministry was never in Ephesus but when faithful preachers of the word preach Jesus is calling those who are the called according to his purpose.
Ephesians 4:20-21: But you have not so learned  the Messiah, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Romans 8:28: speaks of the called in this way: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In the following verses Paul shows how calling fits in with all of the other glorious benefits of salvation.