When you turn back to second
Peter, chapter one, while you're turning there, Andy Davis is
going to speak for us tonight. I'll be here, but I've asked
him to speak and we're going to observe the Lord's table together
tonight. I'd like to read. Verse 10, the
second Peter, chapter one. Again. Wherefore, the rather, brethren,
give diligence, give earnest care to make your calling and
election sure. Now, what is Peter saying? Is
he saying there's something we can do to make ourselves elect? Make ourselves called? No. But he is saying to make sure. That's strong language. To make sure that God actually
has called us. He's telling us to make sure
We are of the number of God's elect. Now, this verse of Scripture
tells us that these things can be made sure. You and I can be sure that God
indeed has called our name personally. And you and I can be sure that
we are of the number of God's elect. And this is something
we're to give diligence toward. Earnest care. You know, we give
diligence by a lot of things, don't we, that are important
to us. But here's something that's more important. Give diligence. to make your calling and election
sure. And what a valuable thing it
is to know that God has called you, to know you're one of God's
elect. If you know that, such confidence
would enable us in some measure to rise above our circumstances,
wouldn't it? If we know we're God's elect
and God has called us, It would enable us to rise above the fear
of man. Why fear men if God has called
me and I am one of his chosen ones? I realize people make fun
of that. Oh, you're of the chosen ones. Yes, I am. You can make
fun of it if you want, but it's something the scripture teaches.
Now, while these two things, calling and election, are different,
they are always together. Those he calls are the elect. And it's only the elect that
he calls. Now, here's my first question.
I want to deal with this. What is election and what is
calling? For me to know whether or not I'm one of God's elect
and for me to know whether or not God has called me, I'm going
to have to understand what election is and what calling is. Now, what is election? It's found
over and over in the scripture. What is meant by this thing of
election? Well, the first thing that comes
to my mind is angels. There are angels, according to
scripture. There are angels and there are demons. According to
the Bible, there are elect angels. 1 Timothy 5, 21. The ones who
didn't fall are the ones God chose not to. Now, there's a
difference between an angel and a demon. What's the difference?
God elected the one. He's an angel. The other, the
demons who have fallen, they're not elect of God. They're not
chosen of God to that end. And then the next thing I think
of when I think of election, God's elect, God's select, the
ones God's chose. You can't read the Old Testament
and fail to see that God chose Israel. And he didn't choose
the other nations of the world. You can't read the scriptures
and see anything else. God chose the nation of Israel. He didn't choose the Jebusites
and the Hittites and the Canaanites and so on. God made a difference. He chose Israel. And then there is the election
of individuals. Before time began, God selected,
elected who would be saved. They were chosen in Christ before
time began And these are the ones that God saves, those He
has chosen before time began. Somebody says, well, didn't God
intend to save everybody? No, He doesn't. He only intends
to save the elect, and that's who he saves. Ephesians 1, 4
says, According as he hath chosen us in him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now understand this about
election. You can't separate it from Christ. Did you notice
how he says he chose us in him? It's not just some arbitrary
choice. I don't pick out this one. I'm going to damn that one.
No, the elect have always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why they're elect, because they're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
this choice was absolute. Absolute. Turn with me to Romans
nine for a moment. That means there's nothing that
you can do to make yourself one of the elect. There's nothing
you can do to earn God's favor, and if you're one of God's elect,
you can't lose God's favor. Now, you're going to have to
stay with me. I know a lot of people will take something like
that and abuse it, but God's elect won't. God's elect won't.
So look here in Romans chapter 9, verse 11. Talking about Jacob
and Esau. Two twins born out of the same
womb. For the children, Jacob and Esau. being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth." Now this choice of Jacob and this rejection of
Esau, he says this choice of Jacob was not because of some
good works Jacob performed, not of works, simply because he willed
to do it. It's an absolute election. There's
nothing you can do to make yourself one of the elect. This choice
was absolute, and this choice is eternal. He said to Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. He says to all that
elect in Jeremiah 31.3, behold, I have loved you with an everlasting
love, a love that never had a beginning. I never went from not being elected
to being elected. If I'm elect, I've always been
elect. And this election is personal.
Second Thessalonians 2.13 says, But we're bound to thank God
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Election speaks of a God who
is God indeed. Now, if you don't believe in
election, you don't believe in the God of the Bible. It really
is that simple. You've got a different God. The
God of election is the God who controls all things, and that's
the God of the Bible. If somebody believes in a God
who doesn't elect people, Something other than that, they do not
believe in the God of the Bible, but a different God, a weak God,
a pygmy God who's not in control. Somebody says that's sounding
awful hateful. No, it's not. It's not. But I
do despise any notion of a God that's anything less than absolutely
sovereign. God's God, that's what election
says. His choice of his people before
time began. Election tells us what Christ
was doing on the cross. Christ wasn't making a roll of
the dice, hoping people would end up believing on Him. He died
for the elect, and He actually accomplished their salvation,
so that when He said, It is finished, my salvation was accomplished.
Election tells me how much salvation is of grace. All of it's of grace. I love election. And Peter says,
You make your calling in election? Sure. Can you see what a valuable
thing it is to know your election? But notice, we can't know our
election until we first make our calling. Sure. Notice the order in verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling. And your election. Sure. Now, in our experience. Calling
comes first. You can't know your election
until you first know your calling, that God has called you. Now, the scripture says, whom
he did predestinate in Romans 8.29, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, then he also
justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorifies. Now, the call of God, this calling
we're speaking of, as a matter of fact, Clare just read about
it, and we're going to go back to that scripture. I was so thrilled
when you read that scripture, because that's one of the focal scriptures
I want us to look at about this thing of calling. This calling. Let's take that passage of scripture
I just read from Romans 9-11 to the children. being not yet
born, talking about Jacob and Esau, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. God never called Esau. Those he calls, he saves. Those he calls with the invincible,
irresistible work of his grace, those he calls, he saves. Now, this call is most gracious,
and here's something to give you some hope regarding this
call. Let me say something about the call of God, because I want
to know if he's called me, don't you? I want to know if he's called
my name. Our Lord said this in Matthew chapter 9. He said, I
came not to call the righteous. If you're righteous in any way,
in and of yourselves, you can forget it. He didn't come to
call you. He just passed you by. He said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Where do you fit
in that group? Sinners. This is who he came
to call. He didn't come to call good people.
He didn't come to call righteous people. If you're good and righteous,
you cut your own throat. That means Christ won't have
anything to do with you. He came to call sinners to repentance. What is repentance? It's a change
of mind. You know, there are certain things
I believe now that I didn't used to believe. I didn't used to
understand that I was nothing but sin, but I've changed my
mind now. I know that's what I am. I didn't used to believe
in election. I do now. I didn't used to believe
salvation or by grace. I do now. God has changed my
mind. He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This is a most gracious call.
You see your calling, brethren. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world, the base
things of the world, the things which are nothing to bring to
nothing, the things that are. This is a most gracious calling. And this call is effectual. If
God calls you, you respond. If you don't respond, God never
called you. Someone says, I don't believe that. Okay, that means
God never called you. That's all I can say. If he calls you,
you will believe. Lazarus, come forth. You know what happened? Lazarus came forth. He that was
dead came forth. It's a most effectual call. And when God calls you, there's
something you hear. You see, he calls, according to the scriptures,
Ephesians 1 14, he called you by our gospel. If you haven't
heard and believe the gospel, no, he hadn't called you because
he called by our gospel, the gospel of the scriptures. Now,
I see three evidences of calling in the scripture. Do you want
to know whether or not God really has called you? I do, don't you?
I want to know that God has actually called my name, that He said,
Todd. I want to know that. I want to
know He's called me. I tell you what, if I can make
my calling sure, I can be dead sure of my election. And I want
to be sure of my election too, don't you? And there's something
we can do, make your calling and election sure. Now here's the, I'm going
to give you three evidences that the Scripture gives us of calling.
Now here's the first one. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 1.
Claire read this passage of Scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. For the Jews, the religious fellows,
they require a sign. And the Greeks, the Gentiles,
they seek after wisdom, human philosophy, and so on. But, Paul
says, we preach Christ crucified Now, unto the Jews, the religious,
this is a stumbling block. This is a scandal. And unto the
Greeks, this is pure foolishness. You trick me to believe that?
But unto them which are called, every single one of them, but
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, Jesus
Christ, the power of God. And Jesus Christ, the wisdom
of God. Now, everybody that God's called,
without exception, they all see the Lord Jesus Christ as the
very power of God. And when you talk about the power
of God, you're talking about, first of all, you're talking
about creation. Him bringing the world into existence. Him
making something from nothing. Only God could do that. Jesus
Christ did that. When you talk about the power
of God, you talk about providence. That means everything that happens,
he's in control of. Every raindrop that falls, everything
that happens, he is in control of because he's God. Christ is
the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. He
controls everything. I think of the power of God in
the incarnation when God became a man. What mighty power when
God became flesh. I think of the power of God in
the righteousness of Christ when He kept the law perfectly and
never sinned. Only the power of God could do
that. I think of His power in His death. In His precious death,
He actually put away the sins of everybody He died for so that
I actually have no sin. Now, only the power of God could
do that. Oh, what power is displayed in the resurrection of Christ
when He raised Himself from the dead? Only God can do that. And He was raised for my justification. I think of the power of God in
keeping me and preserving me. The fact that I haven't left
is because His power has kept me. We're kept by the power of
God through faith and salvation. Christ is the mighty power of
God. Do you believe that? You believe
he's the very power of God and he's the very wisdom of God. Oh, the wisdom of God that he
has made a way. Oh, what a wise God that he's
made a way to be just and punish all sin and yet take somebody
like me who in and of myself, I'm nothing but sinful and justify
me so that I stand before His holiness without any sin, not
guilty. Only the wisdom of God could
do that. Christ, the power of God. And Christ, the wisdom of God. Everybody who He calls, this
is what they see. We're all in agreement here,
aren't we? Every believer. Christ is the power of God. And
Christ is the wisdom of God. Now, look at the first part of
this chapter. Here's the second evidence of God calling you. Paul, called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called, called to be saints with all
that in every place Call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, both theirs and ours. Now, here's the second evidence
of calling. The called call. They call on the Lord. All the
call, with every, you're called with everyone that calls upon
the name of the Lord. Now, the called call, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, if
you call on the name of the Lord, it's because he called you. You
wouldn't do it if he didn't call you. I'm calling on his name
right now. Now, by the name of the Lord,
that doesn't just simply mean his name. The audible way is
felt and so on. His name is His attributes. I'm
calling upon the power of Christ to save me. Lord, I'm utterly
without ability. Save me by Your strength. Save
me by Your sovereignty, because You will it. Save me by Your
grace, because You're gracious. Save me by Your justice. Make
a way that You're just in saving me. Save me by Your mercy. All
Your attributes. I'm calling upon the name of
the Lord. Lord, save me! Now, if I call on his name and
I'm doing it right now, I'm Lord, save me. Lord, don't pass me
by in calling on his name. It's because he calls me. Now, if you're called by God,
here's the first thing you'll do. You'll start calling upon
God. That's what you'll do. Turn with me, Hebrews chapter
nine. Here's the third thing. Hebrews chapter nine. And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called, not everybody is called, but there are some
who are, they which are called, what do they do? They might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. They which are called receive,
embrace, welcome. If God gives you something, you
know what you do? You receive it. And if you haven't
received it, He never gave it. All that He gives to They receive
what He gives. You embrace. You're welcome.
Now, understand this. There is no merit in receiving.
False religion, what's going on in Lexington, Kentucky right
now for the most part, makes the act of reception the act
of salvation. God loves you. Christ died for
you. God the Holy Spirit's calling
you. He calls everybody. He died for everybody. He wants
to save everybody. But as to whether or not you're
saved is up as to whether or not you receive Him. Now, that's
just foolishness. That's all it is. It's foolishness.
There's not a bit of truth to it. It's not the gospel. It's
another message, because you're making salvation your act of
reception rather than what he did for you. Listen, I'm going
to be saved not because I received Christ, but because he died for
my sins. I'm going to be saved not because of something I've
done or received, but because of what he's done. And here's
the evidence that he's done it for me. I receive it. I receive
it. I receive all of his blessing. The scripture speaks of us. Who
makes you different from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? The scripture speaks of us receiving him, receiving
the Holy Spirit. That means welcoming, embracing
is good news. Receiving the remission of sins,
receiving his fullness, receiving his grace. receiving His mercy,
receiving the gift of righteousness, receiving the adoption of sons,
receiving the atonement, receiving power, receiving the knowledge
of the things freely given to us of God, receiving the anointing,
receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, receiving the salvation
of our souls. We receive what God gives. We're thankful. I repeat, if
we don't receive it, God never gave it. Now this gives us, I
hope, some idea of what Peter meant when he says, make your
calling and election sure. And if you make your calling
sure, you'll make your election sure. And this is something we're
commanded to do. Make your calling and election
sure. Now let's go back to our text, 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 10, wherefore, the rather
brethren. Now, when he's saying, wherefore,
the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling election
sure, he's saying, don't be like this person that is mentioned
in verse nine. He that lacketh these things
is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he
was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren,
don't be like this fellow, but you give diligence to make your
calling and election sure." Now, Peter was writing to people who
had been given faith. Let's begin in verse 1 of 2 Peter
chapter 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained It's been
given to them. You've obtained like precious
faith with us. You've got the same faith we
do. It's been given to you through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us. all things
that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him
that calleth to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. And besides this, besides this
thing of faith, give all diligence, give every effort, add to your
faith Virtue. Virtue. Now, this is better than
morality. You can have some form of human
morality and miss Christ altogether. Everybody's got a little bit.
Virtue. Virtue. The work of God in you.
The work of the Holy Spirit in a man. And he said, and add to
your virtue knowledge. Verse 5. The knowledge of God. The knowledge of His Word. The
knowledge of gospel. I'm not just talking about correct
information. I'm talking about knowing him. Knowing him. Knowing his word. Knowing his
will. Knowing his will of redemption. Knowing his will. Verse 6. And add to your knowledge
temperance. Control from within. Temperate in eating and drinking,
yes, but also tempered in the sense of not being drunken with
pride and self-righteousness and worldliness. Temperance,
control from within, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. And
add to your temperance, he says in verse 6, patience, really
believing that God is in control. Therefore, I'm patient. His will
is going to be done. And add to your patience, godliness,
true devotion. to God. And add to your godliness
brotherly kindness, the love that exists between believers.
And add to your brotherly kindness Charity, that love that's described
in First Corinthians 13, that suffers long and is kind and
envies not and doesn't bond itself and is not puffed up. And that
that love that Paul speaks of in First Corinthians 13, the
fruit of the Spirit is love, is charity. He says in verse
eight. For if these things be in you,
the seven things that he speaks of that are to be added to our
faith. If these things be in you and
abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren, idle,
inactive is what the word means, nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, this is something
I don't want to be. I don't want to be barren. inactive, idle,
and unfruitful in my knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. I don't want to be barren and
unfruitful. I want to have that faith that
works by love, a faith that men actually see. I want to have
a faith that you see by my faithfulness, not in order to get you to see
it, that's not it, but I mean a faith that's real. I don't
want to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now look what he says in verse
9. But he that lacketh these things, these seven virtues,
and that word lack Does not mean he's all together without them.
It means they're not near at hand. That's what the word literally
means. They're not near at hand. They
don't come up where you see him. He that lacketh these things
is blind. And cannot see afar off. And
have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. He can't look back to the cross.
He can't find any assurance. He can't look to judgment. He
can't see afar off. He can't look to judgment and
find assurance. The fact of the matter is, this person lacks
assurance. He's not made his calling and
election sure. He lacks assurance. Now, if I
act like an unbeliever, you know what's going to happen to me?
I'm not going to have assurance of my personal salvation. I'm
not going to do it. Now, do I find assurance by my
conduct? Absolutely not. I don't get assurance
out of my virtue or my patience or my godliness. This is the
only thing that gives me assurance. This is the only thing that makes
me believe that I'll be accepted by God, that Christ died for
my sins. That's the only thing that gives
me assurance. that His righteousness is the only righteousness that
I have. That's what gives me assurance. That's what gives
me boldness, knowing that He is all I need, and I need nothing
else. That gives me assurance. If I
start looking within my heart for a reason for assurance, I
lose my assurance. I don't have any assurance. Now, that's true. If you get assurance from anything
you do, it's a false assurance. Now, do you hear that? If your
assurance that you're saved, that you know God comes from
how you're conducting yourself, it's a false, phony assurance. You've made up something. You're
leaning on a broken staff. Now, that being said, if I act
like an unbeliever, I will not have assurance. And you see that
my assurance doesn't come from my actions. My assurance comes
from Christ. But if I act If I lack these
things, he says that person is blind. He can't see afar off.
He can't look back to the cross and see that he's been purged
from his sins. He doesn't know where he's coming from. He can't
look forward to judgment day and see his acceptance. He's
blind. He cannot see afar off. Now. He says, verse 10, wherefore,
the rather brethren. Give diligence. Give diligence. To make your call in an election,
sure. Give diligence. And I'm thinking this thing of
diligence. I mean, there's so many things every one of us give
diligence in that's important to us. You give diligence in
your job to do a good work. You want to do the best you can.
You give diligence as a parent or you give diligence in so many
different things that are important to you. What's more important
than this? Give earnest care, give diligence,
give much effort to make your calling and your election sure. And he tells us two things that
will benefit from doing this. Look in verse 10. He says, if
you do these things, if you give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, you'll never fall. That's what the word of
God says. You'll never fall. Verse 11,
here's another blessing. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter
3, we read of those folks who are saved so as by fire. All their works are burned up.
They built their life around wood, hay, and stubble, and they're
saved so as by fire. And I think that that means when
they're dying, They feel the smoke of torment. They don't
have insurance. They're scared to death. Now,
when these people are brought into heaven, are they going to
have a lower position in glory than the people who don't have
more insurance? No. Everybody's the same in glory.
Saved by Christ's righteousness. There's not different positions
in glory in heaven. Everybody's the same. But here
on earth, that person who made his life around wood, hay, and
stubble, he's going to be saved so as by fire, he's going to
be miserable, he's not even going to have any insurance. When he
comes to die, he's scared to death. And then we read of these
people who are going to have an abundant entrance into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now
that's the kind of entrance I want to have, don't you? I want to
have that kind of entrance. And he says if you make your
calling and election sure, you could look to death without any
fear whatsoever, because you know that Christ is your salvation.
We're to give diligence to make our calling and our election. Sure, we give diligence to make
our bank account. Sure, we give diligence to make
our relationship. Sure. But here's something far
more important. Give diligence to make your calling
and election. Sure. And let me say this. This
is the thought I want to close with. The only way you can make
your election sure is if you make your calling sure. Now,
if I've never been sure of my calling before today, I want
to be sure of my calling right now, don't you? I want to know
that God has called my name. Now, what do the called do? The called see Jesus Christ as
the mighty power of God into salvation. In your inability
You see His ability. You see Christ as the power of
God to salvation. You see Him as God's mighty power.
You see Him as the wisdom of God. Now, if you see Christ as
the power of God and the wisdom of God, you're called. God has called your name personally. Believe that! Receive it! Rejoice
in it! God's called you! Secondly, The
call, call. So right now, Lord, save me.
Say, Lord, I'm calling on Your name right now. Lord, save me.
I can't save myself. I'm doomed and I'm damned if
You don't do something for me. Lord, save me. Save me by Your
power. Save me by Your holiness. Save
me by Your sovereignty. Save me by Your righteousness.
Save me by Your grace. That's what I'm called. Lord,
I'll be damned if You don't do anything for me. And I'm calling
on You right now. Lord, have mercy on me. I'm calling
on His name. Thirdly, the called receive. The called receive. They embrace
as good news. Do you receive the gospel? Do
you receive the gift of righteousness? Do you receive righteousness
as a gift? Do you receive it as grace? The called receive. Okay? I believe Christ is the power
of God. I believe he's the wisdom of
God. I'm calling on his name and I'm receiving what he says
in his word. You know what that means? He's called me. If he's called me, you know what
that means? My election is sure. Assurance is a good thing. May
God enable each person in here to not rest until they've made
their calling and their election sure. And I repeat, don't try
to make your election sure first. You'll be miserable. Your responsibility,
everybody in this room, everybody without exception in this room,
your responsibility is to believe the gospel right now. You're not to worry about whether
or not you're elect. You believe. You're commanded
to believe. You're commanded to. You young
people, you're commanded to believe the gospel. If you're waiting
for some kind of feeling to figure out whether or not you're elect,
you'll never get anywhere. You're commanded to believe the
gospel right now. And in believing, you will make
your calling and election. Sure. May God enable every one
of us to do just that. Let's pray.