Alright, let's turn back to 2
Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Now, what I want to do in this
message and several messages to follow is state it out in
2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. Look at verse 10. 2 Peter chapter
1 verse 10. where Peter, by inspiration of
the Spirit, writes, wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I'm entitled the message
this morning, calling and election. Calling and election. Now this
letter that Peter wrote, this second epistle, he wrote it when
he was in his latter years, and he knew that his life on this
earth was coming to a close. And it's always interesting to
see the last words of any person, because usually what you see
in those last words, if they're in their right mind, is what's
really valuable to them, what's really important, and it's certainly
true of the Apostle Peter. He tells the ones to whom he's
writing, he talks about reminding them, verse 12 of 2 Peter 1,
he says, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always
in remembrance of these things, though you know them. I'm just
telling you things that you already know, but I'm not going to be
negligent. I'm not going to be a negligent
apostle or pastor or preacher and not continually remind you
of these issues of the grace of God in Christ. He says in
verse 13, he says, yea, I think it meet or it's appropriate and
even necessary as long as I'm in this tabernacle, this physical
body is what he's referring to there. to stir you up, encourage
you, incite you, inspire you, by putting you in remembrance,
knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, even
as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. So he knew he was
going to be leaving this earth, and these are sort of Peter's
last words to these believers. He's writing to various believers,
churches, assemblies, in an area called Asia Minor. Back then
that was an area that included Galatia, Paul's letter to the
Galatians, Ephesus, Paul's letter to the Ephesians. And this letter
arose out of a struggle, a struggle with heresy in the churches of
Asia Minor. heresy, things that challenge,
deny, confuse the doctrine of Christ, the gospel of God's grace,
the teachings of the person and finished work of Christ. These
churches that Peter is writing to here, as he mentions them,
were churches that were established by God. through the apostles
upon the gospel truth of salvation by the free and sovereign grace
of God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. You find a description
of that in the book of Ephesians chapter 2. Let me just read this
passage to you. This is Ephesians chapter 2 as
Paul's describing it beginning at verse 18 and what he's talking
about there mainly is the new creation which is the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. which is made up of God's elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile,
who are brought together and brought into fellowship with
God through Christ. And they come believing, they're
believers. And here's what he says in verse
18, he says, for through him, through Christ, this is Paul
writing in Ephesians 2 verse 18. He says, for through him,
through Christ, we both, That is, both believing Jew and believing
Gentile have access by one spirit, the Holy Spirit, unto the Father.
The Holy Spirit. There you see the Trinity. God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether we be physically a Jew
or physically a Gentile, doesn't matter, means nothing. He says
it's through Christ, by the power of the Spirit, that we have access
to the Father. Now you know what he's describing
there? He's describing salvation. He's describing life. He's describing
godliness. And he goes on and he says, now
therefore you are no more strangers, that is foreigners, aliens. He says, but fellow citizens. That's fellowship now. By Christ,
through Christ, by the power of the Spirit, we have equal
access to the Father. It's through the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And we are equal fellow citizens
with the saints. That is, we're all saints. That's
what he's saying there. Sanctified ones. And of the household
of God. We're in the household of God,
the family of God. And then he says, we're built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Now that's the
teachings, the preachings, the word of God that God inspired
the apostles and the prophets to bring to us. We have them
recorded in the written word of God, Genesis to Revelation. And he says, now anyone who comes
along and teaches anything contrary to that foundation that was laid
by the apostles and the prophets, that's heresy. And that's what
Peter's dealing with here, people coming in and teaching things
contrary. And I say it this way, not only
just contrary to the doctrine of Christ, but confusing. And
I wanna tell you, and I know this from experience, and you
know it too, many of you older believers, you know this. Listen,
anybody who preaches anything that just confuses you, That
is not edification. That is not growth in grace and
knowledge of Christ. And especially those who come
preaching things that are new. So he says we're built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. Means he holds everything together,
that's what the cornerstone did. And everything's measured by
him, judged by him. In whom all the building, fitly
framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are builted together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. Now that's the church right there.
And that's something, that's a great description. You read
that sometime on your own and study that. Ephesians 2 and verses
18 through 22. That's the new creation right
there. Now, back over here in 2 Peter, false preachers and
false believers rose up within the churches and they sought
to draw believers away from the truth and to heresy. And it came in many different
forms. Sometimes it's mysticism. Sometimes it's confusion. The
most blatant heresy of all is salvation by works, self-righteous
works, at some stage, in some way, to some degree. The center
introduces works into the scheme of salvation as to attaining
or maintaining salvation. We know there are works in the
scheme of salvation, but they're good works that are inspired
by the spirit of God Christ living in us, as we sing, to work through
us, to do his will. And these works are not the cause
of our salvation. They're not the ground of our
salvation. They're the fruit of our salvation. That's what
Ephesians 2 and verse 10 says, we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. But these
false preachers and false believers had crept into these churches
and some of them were successful in drawing people away from the
gospel. And that's a sad, sad thing,
isn't it? Have you ever had that happen in your life, in the fellowship
of the church and believers, and you see someone who just
totally leaves the gospel? And a lot of times, I'll tell
you what that does. It causes a discouragement, even
with the people of God. You get discouraged. You get
down. Sometimes you'll even think about
quitting. You'll grow faint, that's what the scripture says.
When it says, faint not, don't quit, you know. Especially when
it's a friend, close friend. especially when it's a family
member. And we who are true believers may even lose sight of what's
important. And so Peter writes this final
letter to encourage believers in these situations. But now
mark it down now. True believers, true believers
now, can never be totally drawn away from Christ. You mark it
down. There's no such thing as being
saved one day and lost the next. No such thing in the Scripture.
Now, there's a lot of incidences in the Scripture and examples
in the Scripture of people who claim to be saved one day and
then leave it. They never were saved to begin
with. You can read that in 1 John 2. You can read it in 2 Timothy
2. Those who merely have a profession, an outward claim, and then totally
leave the gospel. The Bible teaches they never,
never believed it to begin with, savingly. They just had a claim.
But true believers cannot be drawn away under final apostasy
and damnation. So here's the question. Amidst
all this apostasy, all this heresy, all this confusion, and we have
it today. You can't deny that. I mean,
denominationalism is run amuck. And even in those places where
they say we're non-denominational, it's become like a hodgepodge
of religion. And basically, non-denominational
means this. We don't care what you believe.
We just love everybody. Come on in. And we'll have a
good time. We'll entertain you. You can
feel the spirit there, that kind of thing. It's emotionalism.
And it's so confusing. And so what are we to do? How
in the world can we filter through all that confusion and heresy
and ignorance and come out with any assurance at all? How can
we do it? And that's what Peter's talking
about. And this is the question, am I a true believer? He deals
with it this way. He talks about in verse 10, wherefore
the rather and brethren. Am I a brother? Or are you a
sister in Christ? He says, give diligence to make
your calling an election. He uses that term election, the
elect of God. That's what he's talking about.
People generally today don't know anything about the blessed,
gracious doctrine of election, that God chose a people before
the foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. That's what
he's talking about. That's what election's all about.
Some people say, well, he's just talking about the Jews there.
Well, Peter's writing to Jew and Gentile, not just Jews. He's writing to these believers
who have become to like precious faith, he says. God chose a people. What does the scripture say about
election? It says it happened before the foundation of the
world, before this world ever began. Turn to Ephesians chapter
1 with me. I want you to look at this. And people say, well, it just
doesn't sound fair to me. It doesn't matter how it sounds
to you or how it sounds to me. What matters is what does the
Scripture teach. Isn't that right? You know, the
Bible says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them, for they're spiritually discerned.
Isn't that right? So in essence, really, none of
these great truths are going to sound right to the natural
man, basically. So it doesn't matter how it sounds.
I know what the scripture says. The scripture says God is just.
God is holy. God does that which is right.
He's never unfair. He's never unjust. He does, out
of His sovereign wisdom and will and knowledge, perfect wisdom
and will and knowledge, He does what seemeth to Him to be good. That's what the Lord said. It
seems good in thy sight. And if it's good in His sight,
mark it down. It's good. It may not be good
in your sight or in my sight, but if it's good in God's sight,
it's good, isn't it? That's what He said. So I'm not really concerned about
how things sound to me or how they sound to you. What I'm concerned
with is, what does this book say? I know one time it sounded
awful to me. And I used to just say it. Well,
that doesn't sound right to me. I know what it says. I know that's
what it says. It just didn't sound. But you
see, I was the one who wasn't right. I was the one who was
spiritually insane. But election. took place before
the foundation of the world. And here's the key now. Now listen
to me. Election is not in and of itself
salvation. Election is unto salvation. And election is in Christ. Now mark that down in your minds.
Write that down somewhere. Election is in Christ. And it's
the election of grace. It's not the election of works.
I've heard some people explain it this way. Well, God looked
down through a telescope of time, and he foresaw who would believe,
or who would do this, or who would, well, that's the election
of works. That's not God's electing grace.
Plus the fact, too, if that's what you believe, you can't get
away from the fact that you believe, if you're one of God's elect,
that you are better than everybody else. You can spin it however
you want to, But you can't get away from that. Well, God looked
down and he saw me and he foresaw that I wouldn't be as bad as
that so-and-so over there. Well, that's what this book teaches. Well, look at it in Ephesians
chapter 1, look at verse 3. He says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, that's
salvation. Blessed with everything in Christ. Verse four, according as he,
God hath chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. accepted in Christ. So election
is in Christ. You can't get away from that
in the scriptures. God chose a people and gave us
to Christ. That's what he's saying. And
all the conditions of the salvation of God's elect were put upon
Christ. He became responsible for his
people. He was always, that's why He's
our surety. That's what the scripture says.
Our Savior, our Redeemer, all the things that God requires
of me and of you in salvation have been laid upon Christ. The
second thing that we see, as I said it before, election is
unto salvation, which means it's unto Christ because He is our
salvation. All of God's elect are called
unto Christ. Now he talks about our calling
over here in 2 Peter chapter 1 and what I'm going to do partly
in this message and then messages to come is we're going to examine
our calling. You know last week I dealt with
Philippians 3.14 when he says, I pressed toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling. of God in Jesus Christ. It's
a high calling. Salvation is a high calling.
Well, have I been called? Have you been called? We're going
to go through the scripture and examine our calling. That's what
he says here in verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. How do you
know your election? How do I know God chose me? By
my calling. And you start with the calling.
Now, somebody says, well, why do you start with the calling?
because you weren't around before the foundation of the world.
That's why. You weren't there. God didn't consult with you.
He told Job that. When Job was trying to figure
all these great things out about why God does this and why God
doesn't do that, God just simply told Job, he said, well, where
were you when I spoke the worlds into space? Where were you when
I spoke the stars into space. Where were you when I put Leviathan
in the sea? Well, Job knew, well, I wasn't
around then. And when God says, well, then, I'm not going to
discuss this with you, basically. You're not qualified to sit down
and have a panel discussion with God on those issues because you
weren't around then. You don't have that kind of mind.
That's a divine mind. That's a mind that has no beginning
and no end. You don't have that, I don't
have that. That's a mind that does no wrong. Sinlessly perfect
mind. I don't have that and you don't
have that, you see. So when we talk about election,
where we start, we gotta start with the calling because all
the elect of God are called unto Christ. And by our calling, what
we're talking about is a summons that cannot be ignored and cannot
be resisted. There's all kinds of callings,
isn't there? All kinds of calls. If you probably, if you're like
me at home, you got caller ID. You have caller ID? And I look
at that thing and if it says toll free, I don't answer that
call. Or if it says political, I don't
answer that call. But every now and then, a call
come up and there'll be a name there of a friend. or a brother
or a sister or somebody and I'll answer that call because I want
to hear from them. I want to hear what they have
to say. You can be called by anyone or anybody and you can
fail to answer that call. Sometimes if you see a couple
of guys in a white shirt and a black tie knock on your door,
you might not answer that. You might hide behind the door.
I told somebody, I said, they ought to let them deliver the
mail. They'd save a lot of money that way. But you won't answer
that. But now if you were, if you heard
a knock come on the door and you went there and it was Sheriff
Keelan standing there at the door and he had in his hand what
he called a subpoena, you going to hide from that? You might
for a little while, but you won't for long. Because that's a summons,
that's a subpoena. If you deny that, if you ignore
that, if you fail to meet that, answer that call, they're coming
after you. And this calling here is a summons. It's a subpoena from God Almighty,
the God of this universe, the King of kings. And it's an unyielding
summons from God by the Holy Spirit in the gospel. And listen,
where there is spiritual life, there will be a positive response
to this calling. Let me show you that. Turn over
to Matthew chapter 13. First, the evidence of spiritual,
what we're talking about basically is the new birth, being born
again by the Spirit of God. Where the Spirit of God gives
life Under this calling, there will be a positive response to
this call. And you know what that positive
response is called? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance of dead works and
idolatry. But look at Matthew chapter 13.
Christ began speaking in parables. And the disciples asked him,
he said, they asked him in, he said in verse nine, look at verse
nine of Matthew 13. He said, who hath ears to hear,
let him hear. That's what this calling is all
about. Do you have ears to hear? Do I have ears to hear? Now you
can hear what I'm saying. I mean, we're not talking about
physical ears here, are we? What are we talking about? We're
talking about spiritual ears. In other words, do you have an
ear to desire and to love what's being preached that glorifies
God and not man. That lifts up Christ and puts
man in the dust where he belongs. Just like a lady said, well,
I'm tired of hearing how much of a sinner I am. Well, let me
tell you something, I've never, and I'll tell you how much of
a sinner you are and I am, but I'll never do that without telling
you how great of a savior Christ is. Now, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. Stephen stood up and he preached
the glory of Christ and him crucified and risen again for the salvation
of sinners and everything else is nothing, as Paul wrote in
Philippians 3, but dung. And they heard what he said.
And they picked up stones and killed him. Before he died, he
said, you who are uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do resist
the Holy Ghost. You resist the calling. Why?
Because you're uncircumcised in heart and ears. You don't
have spiritual life. You don't have spiritual ears.
So he says in verse 9 of Matthew 13 here, who hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Verse 10 says, the disciples
came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto
them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom, but to them it is not given. Now who gives? God does. I can't give that to
you. You can't give it to me. God
gives it and God withholds it. You say, well, why did He give
it to this one and withhold it from that one? Well, He tells
us that the reason He withholds it from those is because they
don't want it. And yet He tells us that the
ones He gives it to, that by nature they don't want it either.
That's what this book says. Now you go home and figure all
that out and write you a book about it and maybe somebody will
buy it. Here's what he says, he says,
it seemed good in thy sight. But he goes on, he says in verse
12, thou for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and shall
have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, that's Isaiah, which saith, by hearing you shall
hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and
shall not perceive. And verse 15 says, for this people's
heart is waxed gross. That means their heart is grown
hard. And their ears are dull of hearing,
and their ears they've closed. They've closed their ears to
the preaching of the truth. Lest at any time they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand
with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them.
But, now listen to this, verse 16. But blessed are your eyes
for they see. Now why do you see and they don't? He says your eyes are blessed.
Blessed of whom? Of God. And your ears, blessed
are your ears for they hear. For verily I say unto you that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which you see and have not seen and to hear those things which
you hear and have not heard them. ye the parable of the sower.
And he begins to explain it to them. You see, this is spiritual
life. This calling is evidence of spiritual
life within. And this calling, turn to John
chapter six, now let me show you this. This calling that the
elect of God are called to is the direct fruit and result of
the death of Christ, the finished work of Christ. That's what this
calling is. That's what spiritual life is,
and that's what this calling is. It's the direct fruit and
effect of the death of Christ on the cross. Look at John 6
and verse 37. Here's what he says. He says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Now if you're
given, the Father gave you to Him, you'll come to Him. That's
what He's saying. And Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. He's not going to turn away anybody who comes to Him. And he says, for I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the father's will, which has sent me, that
of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. You see that? And then look
over at verse 44. He says, no man can come to me
except the father which has sent me draw him. And that's literally
drag him. And he says, and I will raise
him up at the last day, and it's written in the prophets, and
they shall be all taught of God. Now, who's the all there? All
who come to him. And he says, every man therefore that hath
what? Hath heard. Blessed are your ears for they
hear, and your eyes for they see. They've heard and hath learned
of the Father. Learn how God can be just and
justify the ungodly through Christ. Learn how God can save a sinner
like me and still be God. How he can be both a righteous
judge and a loving, merciful father. And he says, if you've
heard and learned of him through the gospel, through Jesus Christ,
seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, cometh
unto me, he said. That's right. And then look over at John chapter
10. Turn over there. Now here he speaks of this calling
of God's elect too. First of all, in verse 11 of
John chapter 10, he makes this statement. He said, I'm the good
shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
The sheep's just another name for the elect. So he says he
gave his life for the sheep. And then look down at verse 22. And it was at Jerusalem, the
Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked
in the temple on Solomon's porch, John 10, 22, 24 now. Then came
the Jews, round about him, and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, the Messiah,
tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, he said,
I told you, and you believed not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. As I said in you, now listen,
verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. Now what's he talking about,
hearing his voice? Well, he's talking about in the preaching
of the gospel. Because that's what Paul, that's the way Paul
defined it in 2 Corinthians chapter five, as we go out and we preach
the word and the message of reconciliation, the gospel, And we beseech sinners
to be reconciled to God on the basis of what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. They answer the call.
And he said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My
Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no one,
that's literally what it is, is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Let
me show you now, turn to John 12, just a few pages over. You see, all life, all spiritual
life, the new heart, The new understanding, the ears to hear,
the eyes to see, all of that is the direct fruit and result
of the death of Christ. He died that we may live. The
work of the Holy Spirit in us to give us life, spiritual life,
to give us ears to hear and eyes to see comes from the death of
Christ. He died that we might live. Now
look here, it says this in verse 23 of John 12. Jesus answered them saying, the
hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now
basically what he's talking about there is his resurrection and
ascension through his death. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn or a seed of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Now what's he doing here? Is
he writing a manual on farming? No. He's talking about, he's
using an illustration. Look at verse 25. He that loveth
his life shall lose it. He that hated his life in this
world shall keep it unto eternal life. If any man serve me, let
him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Now look down at verse 31. He
says, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, that's his crucifixion, will draw all unto me. Now that's not everybody without
exception because all without exception are not drawn to him.
Who's he talking about? All that the Father gave him.
And he says in verse 33, this he says signifying what death
he should die. There'd be no work of the Holy
Spirit in us without the work of Christ for us. You see that? His death, burial, and resurrection.
He died that we might live. That's what he's saying. And
that's what demands spiritual life. And spiritual life is known
by this calling here. Give diligence, brethren, to
make your calling and your election sure. And this call cannot be
resisted. The Bible says many are called
But few are chosen. What's he talking about? Well,
we go out and we preach the gospel to every creature. And we beg
sinners, beseech sinners, be reconciled to God. But we know
that apart from a work of God, in his sovereign power, sinners
will not come to Christ, including us. But this calling cannot be
resisted no more than you can resist breathing when there's
physical life. That's right. You've seen little
kids get mad and try to hold their breath? They may do it
pretty good, you know. They may turn blue, but it's
coming out somewhere. You don't make a conscious choice
every time you breathe. But now, where there's no spiritual
life, there'll always be rejection. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. No more than a man physically
dead can breathe physically. So this call is a divine summons,
a subpoena to Christ for all of salvation. It's a call of
faith. It's a call of grace. It's a call to obedience. Let
me close with one more passage. Turn to Romans chapter eight.
Let me show you this. And then I'm gonna pick up here
with second Peter and this calling, but that's what we're gonna do
now. I want you to do it with me. We're going to examine our,
it's almost, when Peter says give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, it's almost the same thing that Paul said
when he said examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
And that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go through the scripture.
We're gonna see what God's word says about this subject. Now
what, I don't wanna know, I don't wanna give you my opinion, I
don't wanna know your opinion, I wanna know what God's word
says on this subject. But look here at Romans 8, 28.
This is one that most people quote. And he talks about calling here.
He says, and we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them, now who are those? Now he identifies
them. To them who are thee called according
to his purpose. Now who are thee called? That
word called there means summoned. You've been summoned. You've
been subpoenaed. You can't, you won't turn this
one down. And this is a calling according
to his purpose. Well, what is God's purpose?
It's his purpose to glorify himself in the salvation of sinners by
grace through Christ. So it's a calling of grace. It's
a calling in Christ and to Christ. You see, you're going to examine
your calling. Have I been called by the grace
of God to Christ? Have I ended up with no hope,
no peace, no refuge, no satisfaction, no assurance, but in Christ and
Him crucified and risen again? Because that's this calling.
You see, if you've been called, and you can be called a lot of
ways by a lot of different things, religion. If you've been called
and you've been called to salvation by works, then I can tell you
right now, it's not this calling. You've not been summoned by the
Lord of glory. You've been summoned by some Pharisee somewhere. If
you've been called to anything and anyone or any way of salvation
but the Lord Jesus Christ alone, it's not this calling. All right? You've been called to the baptismal
pool. I don't call you to the baptismal
pool. I don't do that, I don't. I simply call you to Christ,
and if you're in Christ, you need to be baptized. Not to be
safe, but because you already are. And so, this is a summons. That's what that word called
means. And look at verse 29 of Romans 8. He says, for whom he
did foreknow, forelove is another way to translate that. He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now look at verse
30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Now the
word called there means named. Named, he named them. That's
what it means. He named his son, he told Joseph,
the angel told Joseph, his name shall be Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. You don't name him Joseph, because
he doesn't belong to you, he belongs to God, he's the son
of the father. And the father names them. When
you have children, you name them. Isn't that right? You're the
one who gave them their name. You named them. You identified
them with a name. And that's what this means. And
so whom he called, whom he named, then he also justified. What
is it to be justified? That means to be declared righteous
before God in Christ. This is a call to righteousness.
This calling. Well, where are you going to
find righteousness? In Christ. His righteousness accounted,
charged, imputed to me. My sins were imputed to him,
his righteousness to me. So it's a calling to righteousness,
which is a calling to Christ, and then he also glorified. That's the calling. Now let's
give diligence to make our calling and our election sure. All right.