2 Peter 1. And we'll be looking at verse
10 this morning. 2 Peter 1 and verse 10. The Scripture says, Wherefore,
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, You
shall never fall. Make your calling and election
sure. The title of the message is An
Exhortation of Remembrance. An exhortation of remembrance. If you'll go down to this verse
down below here that I read to you a moment ago in verse 13,
it says, Yea, I think it meet as long as I'm in this tabernacle
to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Remembrance. Remembrance of what? Make your
calling and election true. This is a One of the many things
that the apostle here stirs up in every brethren, in every believer
in Christ, everyone who professes faith in Christ, this is not
an option. Every believer in Christ, I exhort
you. I exhort you to remember to make
your calling and election sure." Sure. The Apostle Paul says the
same thing concerning the remembrance of this. He said in Philippians
3, he said, it's good for me to bring these things to your
remembrance. It's good. It's safe for you. It's dangerous for a preacher
of the gospel to go off of the gospel. To go off and explore
some trivial matter. Something and focus on some foolishness
that tickles the minds and hearts of natural men. The gospel does not do this.
the natural man, he has no interest in the things of God. And I'll tell you, if I preach
the gospel, we won't have to worry much about the world coming
into the church, because they won't tolerate it very long.
And so for you, it's safe that I stir you up to remember these
things, to make your calling and election sure. What else
could be more important? If you ladies had supper, cooking,
you know, you would want to remember either to set that thing on low
or to cut it off before you left. You wouldn't want to leave the
stove on. That's pretty important to remember, isn't it? You don't
want to leave the iron on. It may burn down your house. Friends, you can do all of that
and you could be as safe as you want to, but I've got something
more important than your stove, your house and your oven. your
food, make your calling and election sure. Make your calling and election
sure. Why? Many are deceived. Jesus said,
many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
done this for you? Have we not done that for you? And he shall say to the many,
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." You see, they did not entertain
their calling and election. They did not attend to the things
of God. Their calling and election was
not sure why, because they based their calling and election on
what they had done, and not what Christ had done. They based it on what they felt,
what they thought was right, instead of what Christ says,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of believing on him,
they look to themselves. And friends, in the end, they
will find themselves lost. I would not hope that for any
one of you here this morning. I pray to God that every one
of you will meet me in glory. I pray that every one of us here
this morning would believe on Christ Trust Christ now to believe
His Word now and to know Him. To know Him. To know that He
has called us and that He has chosen us. The first thing I
want us to see concerning calling and election is the order. The
order. Make your calling and election
sure. Not make your election and calling
sure. That won't work. You can't do
that. You cannot make your election
sure before you make your calling sure. No one was with God in eternity
When he chose a people that he would save, no one was with him. He was alone by himself, content,
satisfied, happy. And in that eternity, he sovereignly
chose a people of Adam's race that he would save for himself. And none of us were there. None
of us were able to know. No one, not one of us, none of
us were there. And if none of us were there,
how in the world could we know the election of God? I like this, when Jesus took
the book, you know that he took a sealed book? It was written on the outside
and on the back and on the inside. That is the election of God's
grace. That is his eternal covenant
of grace. And Jesus Christ took the book
and opened the seals thereof. But before he opened the seals
thereof, I'll tell you, no one could know. No one could know. That's why John wept when he
said that there was no man able to open the book. Even Adam in his perfect state
could not know God's purpose of grace. He could not know that
Jesus Christ would come and save sinners. Why? Because he was
not created a sinner. He was created perfect. You see,
when Adam was made, he did not need a Savior. He was upright. But even in his
most intelligent mind, Adam could not conceive the notion of salvation
by grace. Why? Because he had not experienced
the salvation of grace. Not yet. This is why the angels
try to look into these things that I'm talking about this morning,
because they have no idea what it is to be saved by grace. They have no idea what it is
to be a sinner saved by grace. They don't know. It's a mystery. And friends, it does not matter
how intelligent a man is. or how smart he may become. Listen
to me very carefully. No man. Who? No man. How many? Zero. Nobody. Nobody can by his
carnal, corrupt, enslaved heart know how it is that God saves
sinners. Not by his own wisdom. Not by his own wisdom. 1 Corinthians
1, it says, not by the wisdom of this world. God made foolish
the wisdom of this world that men by wisdom knew not God. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. I want to illustrate this by
Those who argue for the existence of God by creation. If you argue
for the existence of God by creation, you're a fool. You are foolish. Why? It will not work. No man will ever know God by
looking at creation. Now, they may know there is a
God. They may know he made the worlds,
but who doesn't know that God says everyone knows that even
the people who say they don't believe that God says they know
it. And I call him a liar. You liar. Anyone who says he's
an atheist is a liar. Because it's in his heart and
he knows it. He knows it. Knows there's a
God. He knows there's a creation.
You know, those people that when they argue about creation, they
try to argue from the lesser. God doesn't argue from the lesser.
He argues from himself. He said in the beginning, God
doesn't question it. He doesn't leave any question
in the beginning, God. And so ignorant men go about
to try to persuade lost men. by creation. And they say this,
they use a watch and they say this native man, this man, he
found this watch and he doesn't know anything about technology
or anything, but I'll tell you what, when he picks up that watch,
he knows there's a creator. Isn't that right? So far so good. He knows that that watch had
to be made by some design, some higher intellect. He takes it
apart and he watches the cogs go in, and he knows that that
somehow was made by an intelligent man. Let me ask you this, by looking
at that watch, can he know anything about the person of who made
it? Can he know the person? Can he know if the man's kind?
Can he know if the man's gentle? Can he know if the man's merciful?
Can he know if the man's mean or wicked or evil? Can he know
anything about the person by looking at the watch? No. And
you can't know God by looking at creation. You can't know him.
No man can know God by looking at creation or by earthly wisdom. There are many men who are learned
even in the study of the Scriptures. They know about election. They
know predestination. They know all there is to know
in this book. They're very educated fellows.
They know about sovereign grace. But the Scripture says this,
that the carnal mind cannot, cannot receive the things of
God. Is that not plain? The carnal
mind cannot. Friends, my children cannot understand
the gospel. They cannot know God by some
earthly learning. God must reveal himself if he
is to be known, not by carnal knowledge. Man
does not know that salvation is by grace through faith in
Christ alone unless, unless he himself has experienced it. You can know all about it, but
let me ask you this. Have you experienced the grace
of God? Have you been called by the power
of God to faith in Christ. That's what it is to be called.
Make your calling sure. Now, there's a few questions,
just about three questions I want to ask concerning calling. How are sinners called? What is it are we called to? And how can we be sure of it?
First of all, how are sinners called? If we are to be sure
of our calling, we must know how it is that we are called.
The experience of God's calling is very different for every one
of us. Very different. Some experience an immediate
revelation. Some experience it all of a sudden. They understand the gospel is
plain. They believe on Christ immediately,
while others seem to drag out a long time. Seems like that
they struggle with it, that they're that they're conflicted with
it. Some know the exact date that they believed and some they
have no idea when exactly they believed. You see, it's a different
experience. But isn't that true in all the Scripture? Isn't every
one of their conversions in the Scripture different? The Apostle
Paul, he was on the road to Damascus on a horse and God threw him
off and revealed himself in person to him. Cornelius was different, wasn't
he? Cornelius heard the gospel from Peter. and believed." Now, Cornelius was not knocked
off a horse, and Cornelius did not see the manifestation of
Jesus Christ to believe. He heard the gospel, he heard
it preached from a man, Peter. So it's different. I had this
one man tell me, one pastor told me, this guy come up to him and
he said, you know, I don't believe you've got to hear the gospel
from a preacher to be saved. And the pastor said, why do you
believe that? He said, well, the apostle Paul didn't. He was
riding on a horse and God revealed himself. And he said, OK, the
best thing for you to do is get a horse and start riding around
the city and wait for God to strike you down. But as for me, I'll stay here
and preach the gospel. You see, don't rely on your experience
as a calling. It's not the experience of the
calling. that matters, because they're
all different. But what we all have in common
is the means of our calling. The means by which God saves
sinners is by the preaching of the gospel. You know, those Gideons, they
put that Bible in every hotel you go to. You go to a hotel
and they pull out a drawer and there's a Bible. I know this according to the
authority of the Word of God, that no man is going to sit there
and read this Bible himself and be saved. Not one. Why? It's not by earthly wisdom. The Scripture tells us, by the
foolishness of preaching. God saves in that belief. Why
did God choose this? It means, I don't know, and I'm
not going to question it. You know, God's not going to
answer your questions. If you haven't figured that out yet,
you're in trouble. God's not going to answer your questions. All we have to need to know is
right here. And where do you need to come
to hear it? Right where you're sitting. That's it. Now, anything else is nothing
but sinful pride and arrogance to assume you can get it any
other way. Pride and arrogance. J.D., when I told you that the
first time you came into this building, I said, come and sit and listen. Later on, J.D. told me he thought
I was the most arrogant man that ever walked the face of the earth.
He said, how did he know? What does he know? He's the only
one? Well, I'm not the only one preaching
the gospel, no. But if you desire to hear the
gospel, you better find one of us. You better find one of us,
because that's what God says, only by the foolishness of preaching.
If you find me one example where a man had received the word by
himself, let me know. He either received it from God
directly or received it from some man. But I'll tell you this,
he received it, he didn't have it to begin with. Now then, in preaching, there
are two calls. Talking about making your calling?
Sure. There are two calls. There's a general call that goes
out to everyone. And then there's an effectual
call that goes out personally to certain individuals. The general
call. The general call of the gospel is whosoever will, whosoever
believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not be ashamed. There is
a general call. Every one of you hear that? Did
everyone hear? Did everyone hear? Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ
will not be ashamed. That's the general message. And
that one, everybody heard with their ears. But I'll tell you
this, maybe not everybody heard it with their hearts. Every one
of you may have understood that with your minds, but it may not
be understandable to your heart. A general call goes out to all
because there's no difference. There's no difference in you.
There's no difference in you. And there's no difference in
you. There's no difference in me. We are all sinners. Every
one of us. I don't care which class you
want to put yourself in, you think you're a great sinner or
you think you're a little sinner, you're a sinner. You're a sinner. All of sinning
comes short of the glory of God. All have sinned. All of us stand in need of mercy,
grace, forgiveness and pardon. Do you need mercy? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There is a call. God calls in a general way to everyone. But there's another call. It's
effectual. What does that word effectual
mean? It means powerful. It means it gets the job done. It's effectual. In Isaiah chapter 55 and verse
1, God says, Ho! Ho! Everyone, everyone that thirsteth. You see, now there's a qualification.
Everyone, hear the general call. Believe in Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Hear the effectual call to everyone
that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters, come,
buy and drink without money and without price. Thirsty? Are you thirsty? Boy, I am. I'm thirsty. What does a man do when he's
thirsty? He drinks. He drinks. Are you thirsty for righteousness? Because that's what it's talking
about. You see, you have no righteousness. Do you desire righteousness? Do you desire an atonement for
your sins? Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come and buy. Are you poor? Because that's
who He calls. He only calls the thirsty and
the poor. Why? Because his salvation is
without money and without price. You can't buy it, you can't earn
it, you can't have it if you bring anything to it. If you bring anything to God, your
decision, your good works, your family, your parents, whatever
it is you think is good about you, if you bring that, you can't
have it. You've disqualified yourself.
Only the thirsty and poor can come. Only those who have nothing with
the pay. This is a spiritual poverty. Our Lord illustrated it by those
two debtors. You see, one owed a lot and the
other owed a little. But one thing they had in common,
they didn't have anything to pay. Oh, everyone that doesn't have
anything to pay. You hear that call? Is that speaking
to you? Well, Pastor, I'm not really
looking for righteousness. God's not calling you. He's calling the thirsty and
the impoverished. The reprobate, the evil man,
is calling. And those who have nothing to
pay, God's Word says, he freely forgave them both. Is that not gracious? Friends,
that is the gospel. Free grace. Free grace. Have you been called
by the free grace of God? This salvation of God is always
to be freely given and cannot be bought by you because it was
already bought by Christ. He has already paid all there
is to pay. And if the Holy Spirit calls
you to faith, to believe in Christ, friends, He'll call you by the
preaching of this gospel and He'll call you with an effectual,
powerful calling to make you know your need. Do you know your need? You see, I'm daily aware of my
need. I pray that God would forgive
me of my sins, even now as I'm preaching to you the gospel.
I need His forgiveness in everything, because I have nothing to pay.
Nothing. The second question is, what
is it that sinners are called to? The religious works, the religion
of works, call men to do better, don't they? Do your best, try
your hardest, be as good as you can. You see, the gospel never
calls anybody that way. We who are called of God, we
are called by the grace of God to faith in Christ. The just shall live by faith. The same way I started this walk
with my Savior is the same way I'll finish. by believing on
Him alone. Friends, that's the most impossible
thing for a man to do. And it can only be done if you're
called of the Spirit of God. Have you been called to faith
in Christ alone? Simon Peter tells us in this
first verse of our text, he says, To them that obtained like precious
faith. Precious. What's precious? What does it mean to be precious?
It means it's rare and valuable. Faith is rare and precious because
it's not something you can obtain by yourself. It must be given.
Have you been given faith in Christ? Friends, there's only one faith.
You know that? Your faith, if you're a believer
in Christ, your faith's not different than mine. Now, I'll tell you,
it may be more mature, and I'll tell you, your faith sometimes
may be more, it may be greater than my faith, but how soon does
that fluctuate? Up and down, up and down, up,
up and down. I believe. Oh, woe is me. Oh,
I believe. Woe is me. Just constantly fickle,
fickle. But your faith is the same as
mine. Because we live by the faith of the son of God who loved
us and gave himself for us. My faith is his faith is your
faith. It's a constant faith. And there is one church, one
body, one faith, one Lord, one Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you
believe? Thirdly, next, we're called from
sin. Have you been called from sin?
A lot of people believe they've
been called to sin. They believe, oh, I'm safe. Now I can just
do what I please. You sure can. Do what you please. What is it you please? Well,
I like to sin. You haven't been called by Christ.
You see, we've been freed from sin. I don't want to sin. Do you? I don't want to sin. I want to love my Savior. This
is how we know we've been called is we've been called from darkness
to light. Believers in Christ, the light
of God is Christ, and He reveals to us the righteousness of God
that is given to us. And our desire is to please Him. And lastly, how can we be sure
that we are called of God? Have you ever seen that rule
in the rule book that says, You know, do this. Rule one, do this. Rule two, see rule one. That's
pretty much like this. If your calling is sure. And guess what? So is your election sure? Is your calling sure? Is your
calling sure? It is if you believe in Christ.
It is if you've been called by the Spirit of God to life and
light and faith in Christ. And away from your sins, you've
turned to God. You've been called. Is that not
a blessing? I've got a greater one. Not only
have you been called, you've been chosen. Oh, wow! You mean I was chosen? If you
were called, you are. And just as sure as you're called,
God chose you in Christ from before the foundation of the
world, and you can be sure of this, you will endure to the
end. has done all the work. Therefore, Paul said, it is of grace. It is of grace. Oh, let me not
quote that. I'll go here and read it. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16
says, Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might
be sure to all the seed. You see, I know my salvation
is sure because I know my calling is sure. I know my election is
sure because I know my calling is sure. How is this all done? By grace. Oh, sweet grace that
I can rest on every single day. And I'll tell you, just like
I told you this morning, we who believe, we believe now. We believe today. I don't rest on what I did yesterday. to make my calling and election
sure. I don't rest on what I want to do tomorrow. My calling and
election are sure today because they're in Christ. And I believe
today. Do you believe today? Then you should have great peace.
You should have great comfort. God loved you. And he gave his
only son for you. Is there anything greater? Is there anything that we need
to be making more sure of than that? No. I pray that God would bless
you. that God would speak to your
heart. The stand will be dismissed in
prayer.