The Called The Chosen And The Faithful

All of us know that the Book of Revelation is an interesting book. It's a book many people totally misunderstand, or they try to read and find it so confusing, and don't want to have anything to do with it. And yet, I think most of us are familiar enough with the Word of God, and with what God is revealing there in the Book of Revelation to know, and certainly toward the latter part of the Book of Revelation, we find it describing the end of this corrupt age. The end of this age and the wrath of God is going to be poured out on lawless humanity, with the conquering king putting an end to Satan's rule here on earth. You know, this is an incredible understanding to have, to realize that, well, this is what the book is about. This is, yes, it's got seals, and yes, it's got trumpets, and yes, it's got great plagues. And there's messages to churches, but ultimately the focus is the coming of Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I want us to read here in Revelation 17, starting in verse 12.

And this is talking about, the chapter 17 is about the whole system that we describe as the beast, and connected with a false religious system that is going to be controlling at the end of the age. And it says in verse 12, the ten horns that you saw are ten kings. And so this is referencing some union of some type that would involve ten nations that would have a background that would be Roman or European. We would conclude.

Ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast.

And it says these are united in yielding their power and authority of the beast. And verse 14, it's what I'm really wanting to focus on.

Verse 14 says they make war on the Lamb, and yet the Lamb will conquer them. And he is the Lord of Lords, and he is the King of Kings.

And those who are with him, those who are with this conquering king, are called and are chosen and are faithful. Now, at the time that this is referencing, the saints are going to be truly victorious with Jesus Christ.

And I think if we read through the storyline of this incredible book of Revelation, we see we really want to be a part of that grouping that's described as the called and the chosen and the faithful. But what is it that that phrase, those who are with him, are called and chosen and faithful? What does that mean? What is that talking about? What type of relevance does that have to you or to me in our lives today? See, the title that I would give this sermon today is The Called.

The Chosen and the Faithful. Again, that's a pretty simple title, perhaps.

And yet, we need to realize that God is aware of and is watching our decisions.

He's watching our choices. He's watching our growth. He wants us to grow. He wants us to fulfill His purpose for His involvement in our lives.

How can we ensure, because I'm going to give you some information, surely, that you are fully aware of already about what it means to be called, what it means to be chosen, and what it means to be faithful. But I want to be able to also point out to you what it says, where we can be absolutely sure that we will be there and be a part of the, in a sense, the victory party that Christ is going to have whenever He returns. I want to go through, of course, I'm going to hope that this sermon has three points. If I come up with any more, then discard those. But, you know, the first one, of course, is the called. Now, you know, this is so incredibly obvious when you read the New Testament, at least obvious to me, that I don't know why most people don't even think about being called by God. They don't think about that. People in general don't think about, they don't discuss, that they don't think. Well, I responded to the call of God, but it's so clear, because there are numerous verses, we're only going to go through a few, numerous verses that point out the calling of God. And I think all of us think back and feel that God actually called us. Mr. Keener, back there, back in 1970 or 1968 or whenever it was, similar time, whenever I believe that God called and drew me. See, some of you were around that time, some of you were later, some of you were much newer, perhaps, now. And yet, so many people think that they just need to, in some way, give themselves to God. Give your heart to the Lord. Or, you know, that's confused with a misunderstanding, that this is the only day of salvation, because it's not. The Bible reveals more than one resurrection. It reveals different time frames of people coming to an awareness of their calling.

But what we read in Matthew 20 verse 16, Jesus makes a statement where he says, many are called, but only few are chosen. So, calling is not just all there is to it. But certainly calling, a calling from God, is an important understanding. See, now we have read, and I know I have read that verse in the past, and I have been taught or told or shown, well, yes, you know, in a sense, a calling could be an introduction to the truth of God. You know, we have sent out millions of magazines. We have sent out years of broadcast of the truth of God. And many people have been exposed to the truth. But what this says is many are called, but a few are chosen.

And so, I want us to consider we sang a song here about Romans 8. Romans chapter 8, in verse 28. That's the focus of one of the songs that we sang here to begin our service. And what it says in Romans 8, 28, and we have commonly gone over this verse to encourage us, to help us to understand that when things go well, we can be thankful when things are not so well or of a trial. We can still be thankful. All things, it says in verse 28, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called, to those who are called according to the purpose of God. See, that's a pretty clear statement about being involving or having been involved in the understanding of the truth of God at His request. Now, as I mentioned with some of us, you know, I look back on that and when I was an older teenager, I became aware of the fact that I was certainly heading in the wrong direction. I needed to change most everything in my life and needed to try to follow what God says. And so I always look back on that as a calling from God. God entered my mind and He brought me to an awareness that I didn't have before that. And I think many of us, you know, realize that that's what God did at some point in our lives. And yet, I've begun to think, you know, whenever we pray... well, let's go on to verse John 6, verse 44, is a well-known verse that we have taught about for a long time. It's about God's calling. It's about being drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ. And that's what I was referring to, I guess, whenever I said I look back at a time thinking that that's when I was called. And yet, for some of you, it might not have been quite that dramatic. To me, it was dramatic. To some of our younger people here, it might not seem dramatic at all. This is all I've ever known. This is what I was taught when I was a kid. And this is what I have been taught all through my sitting in church all of my life. And yet, this talks about John 6, verse 44. Jesus says, no one, no man can come to me unless the Father who sent me would draw them. And he repeats it in verse 65 if we didn't understand what verse 44 says. He says the same thing. This is why I told you that no man can come to me unless the Father draw him. See, brethren, that's very, very—see, I didn't just give my heart to the Lord. Yes, I decided to choose life instead of death, but what I was extended was the mercy and calling of God. And that, of course, is what I contend that all of you should be able to identify in your life. And in connection with that, I know as I pray to God, I want to learn to relate to the supreme being that he is in the ways that the Bible describes him. You know, he tells us to worship him. He tells us to praise him. He tells us—again, one of our songs today—every knee is going to bend. Every head is going to bow before the great ruler. And yet, whenever we pray, we pray to worship God. We pray to praise God. We pray to exalt God's holy name. We pray to be in subjection to his law. I pray to be in submission to his authority, because—see, this is a great deception that Satan is perpetuating on the world today. He wants to get everybody thinking, you don't need to be in subjection to anybody, just yourself. Whatever seems right to you, that's the standard you should use. And see, that won't go anywhere. That clearly won't go to being a part of the family of God.

But see, if we pray that we respect God's law, if we pray that we are in submission to his authority, another thing that I try to pray is to honor my Heavenly Father. Now, I'm pretty sure all of you would quote the verses that say that that's what we're supposed to do. Matthew, Jesus told his disciples, that's what you're supposed to do. Pray, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. And I'm pretty sure, probably millions of other people can cite that prayer. But does it mean to them the same thing that it means to you and me?

Because when I pray, I want to honor you, Father, as my Heavenly Father, who began the process in me of being born from above. See, that's what we've got to connect with. That's what involves a calling from God.

It is the Father who begins the spiritual development of the child. And see, he will work with us. He began that at a given point. He continues to work with us until we're done, until the end of our lives or until Christ returns.

But see, we should pray in honor of our Father and thank him so much for beginning the process of being born from above. See, that's different than being born anew or being born again, as so many people think of that. See, it's very important to understand the calling of God involves him initiating the spiritual development in our lives of being born from above.

See, here in 1 Corinthians 1, I want to go to a reference that Paul uses here, but also he uses in numerous other places. Other books that he wrote, books that were written to either Ephesus or Philippi or Colossae or to the Thessalonians, books that are written even to Romans. You could go to the books that he wrote to a congregation and most of them have a similar intro. They have a similar few words to begin with. And yet, here, in talking to the church there in Corinth, the church of God, people who were a part of the church of God, who had embraced a calling from God, who were a part of God's true church.

And he says, here in 1 Corinthians 1, and this is all about being called, so we're still on point 1 here, Christian. We're still on point 1, the called. Watch out, I might call your name. Here in verse 1, Paul, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 1, Paul, and called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and our brother, Sosthenes. Now, what does Paul say? He says, I decided, since I was clearly a pretty good guy anyway, and I really knew almost all the Bible as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he says, I'm better than most all the rest of them.

Now, that isn't what Paul's saying here. He says, God broke me, and he set me on the ground on the road to Damascus, and caused me to be blind for three days, and I figured out that I was all wet, and that I needed God. I needed help. I needed...and he understood that he had been called to be a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. See, that's why I say it's amazing to me how so many people have no comprehension that it's really important to be called.

It's really important to embrace a calling from God, who is our Heavenly Father, because He has begun the process of us being born from above. He is the one who did it. But Paul says, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

It wasn't my will. It wasn't what I was looking for. I was out killing the church. But God decided, I can use that murderer, because that's what Paul says he was, I can use him to do the work. I can use him to go to the Jews. No, he didn't send him to the Jews. He sent him to the Gentiles, because that was God's direction in Paul's life.

But he goes ahead in verse 2 to the Church of God. To the Church of God that is in Corinth. To those who are sanctified in Jesus Christ, called to be saints. And so whether you think you're a saint or not, the Bible calls us saints. That's what he tells us to embrace. That we are going to be the saints of God. We're in a developmental process now, but what does it say? Called to be saints. Together with all those who in every place call in the name of our Lord, both their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

See, this is a common statement that Paul makes. But see, I simply point out, he mentions being called to be an apostle himself. And he mentions the Church being called to be the saints of God. To make up a part of the Church of God and to be able then to be a part of the family of God. Now, isn't that amazing that God would choose to call us? Why would God do that? Why would he interject himself into your life?

Was it because that you were desiring to give your heart to the Lord? Or was it because he was entering into your mind and heart to begin a process that you could not do yourself? I think it's the latter. He involved himself in each of our lives. And I know sometimes if we say that, if God called us or that God placed us in the Church or however we might phrase that, some people can say that. That sounds pretty arrogant. You know, that God called you.

Sometimes perhaps if you discuss that with others, and I don't tend to discuss that with others much, but sometimes you do end up even mentioning that because that's a part of the understanding that we have of what God is doing with us. And yet some people will say, you think you're called, or you think you're going to be a son of God? You're going to think you're going to be like God? That's what it says. That's what the Word of God says. And so in a sense, I can see why someone might feel that that's somewhat of an arrogant statement, but it's certainly not an arrogant statement according to the Apostle Paul.

Because he says, I was called to be an Apostle. I was called to do the work of God. I certainly know I was wrong, but I was called by God. And of course, all of you as members of the Church, as he was directing this to Corinth, and again you can think, well, look, read the book of Corinthians.

This is about a bunch of sinners. This is about a bunch of people who have all kinds of problems. And because that's true, you can read the thing, and hardly any chapter doesn't go through correcting them on something.

And yet Paul says, now that's part of the process. They need to be corrected. They need to be directed by God. And he says it's not wrong to think that you are called of God, but he does say it's wrong for you to boast about that, because he says in verse 26, in this exact same chapter, Colossians 1 Corinthians, which book are we in? 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, he says, I want you to consider your calling, brethren. Think about what I'm proclaiming to you.

He says, I want you to consider your calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth.

He went ahead to explain, you don't need to have a big head about being called by God. You need to understand that none of you are the mighty, or the wealthy, or the noble, the intelligentsia of the world. But he says in verse 27, God chose what's foolish in the world, but confound the wise. God chose what is weak in the world, to shameless strong. God chose what is lowly and despised in the world, to reduce to nothing things that are. See, so here he tells them, well, you need to see yourself for what you are. You're not the high and mighty of the world. You're the people that God can actually work with. That's a plus. So he goes ahead in verse 29, so that no one might boast in the presence of God, because he is the source of your life in Jesus Christ, who became for us wisdom from God in righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In order that it is written, let every one who boasts only boast in the Lord. See, we don't have anything to boast about. Why is that? Why would God say that? It's certainly not soothing the self-esteem of the members of the church in Corinth, or perhaps here. Well, because it's consistent with God calling you to be a part of the church in this age. Because what does he say? He says this in James, he says it in Peter, he uses, he alludes to the same concept in numerous other places in his word. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

He says, you're the ones I can work with. You're the ones that I can use to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God. And, of course, we know, I want us to look at Matthew 7. Matthew 7 is part of the Sermon on the Mount. And even though Jesus spoke this to a wide group of people, the most direct application of this is to the members who would eventually become a part of the church of God. Here in Matthew 7, verse 13, he says, enter the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is easy, it leads to destruction. There are many who are taking that, but the gate is narrow and the road is hard. That leads to eternal life. And there are few who find it. And so here he clearly says, I am choosing to deal with those that I am able to deal with, the humble, the contrite, in order to achieve my purpose in their lives. And down in verse 21, he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father. He goes ahead to say on that day, many might say, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and done many deeds of power in your name? Well, I declare to you, I simply don't know you.

I haven't involved myself in your life. I simply don't know you. Go away from me, you evildoers. See, now, all of that fits together with the first point of what I want to cover today. How important is it to be the called of God? How appreciative should we be to be able to pray to our Heavenly Father and say, Father, I want to honor you. Part of the Ten Commandments says, honor your Father and your Mother. Physically, yes, spiritually, even more. Honor our Heavenly Father who began the process of me being born from above. So, point number two, the chosen. What does that mean? What does that mean to be chosen?

You know, in Matthew 22, you see a parable that Jesus spoke. A parable that Jesus spoke. And it's about an invitation to a wedding banquet. And I'm not going to go through for the sake of time. I'm not going to go through the parable. But I do want to point out a few things that are here. What does it say in verse 14? Matthew 22, verse 14, this parable of Jesus about the kingdom of God, he says, in verse 2, the kingdom of heaven can be compared. He's talking something about the kingdom of God. And yet he says, in verse 14, many are called, but few are chosen. What does it mean to be chosen? Does that mean you chose God? Or does that mean that God has chosen you? See, is it only about God's choosing, or does it have something to do with you responding to God?

Because in this parable it says in verse 8, it says in verse 8, go therefore, or excuse me, verse 8, then he said to his servants, the wedding's ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. And so he says, I want you to go get some more. And again, I'm not going through the entirety of this parable, which is an entire sermon in itself, but it's about an invitation. He says, go get some more, bring them in, because the wedding is going to go forward. We are going to achieve my purpose. God is going to achieve the development of his family.

But what we see in verse 11, when he had brought in other guests, guests who had been invited, perhaps guests who had been called, see, when you use the idea of calling in a very wide sense, you know, a certain exposure to the truth would be one thing, a certain understanding of the truth would be even more. But what does it say in verse 11, when the king came in to see the guest, he noticed a man who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said, friend, how did you get in here? How did you get in here looking like this? No wedding robe.

And in the end of verse 12, he had nothing to say. He was speechless. I, you know, he stumbles around and stutters, and what can I say?

And so the king said, bind him hand and foot and throw him into outer darkness, or be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Many are called, but few are chosen. See, that would indicate that each of us who are invited through a calling, and who can be chosen by God to be a part of his family, because he says he does choose us, and I will point that out. We also have to be engaged in the preparation that's required to be chosen. Our sermonette again touched on this a little, as far as how we need to be ready. We need to be preparing. See, we've got to be engaged in the preparation of being a part of the chosen, because even as you see here in John 15, John chapter 15 is Jesus talking to his disciples and giving them a treasure trove of inspired information about the vine and the branches and about how that they are his friends and how that they're going to be persecuted. John 15 is an incredible chapter, but I just want to focus on verse 16. Talking to his friends, he told them, You didn't choose me, but I chose you. You did not choose me. I chose you, and I appoint you to go and bear fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. See, here he was telling his disciples the ones that he had called. The Father had drawn to Jesus. Jesus had said, Follow me. They said, Okay, we're out of here, out of the fishing boat, out of the tax collector's booth, out of the other rolls, whatever they would have been, as far as the apostles. And so they were then following Jesus. But he says, Well, you didn't choose me. I chose you. And we want to be reminded of that as well. There's two parts to being chosen. One of them does involve God's choosing. The other one involves us responding. Our responding. See, what if you never repented?

What if you were never baptized? What if you just ignore the instructions that God gives? Does that show that you really ought to be doing something to put on the right wedding garment? You know, that's at least initial things to do.

Here in 1 Peter, I want to go through a couple of verses here that...

1 Peter 2...

1 Peter 2... 2 Peter 2... Verse 4, he's writing this again to church members that says, Come to him. Come to Jesus, who is a living stone. Though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight. Like living stones, you should be built up into a spiritual house. He's talking about the church in that sense, and how that Jesus certainly is precious, he is chosen of God, but then he directly says in verse 9, You, talking about the church, you are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are God's own people. In order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. See, so clearly God's involved in not only our calling, but also our choosing. And so we've got to accept the invitation. As I said, you know, we've got to be repentant, but the goodness of God leads us to repentance. We've got to be baptized, but who forgives us? God. We have to be a recipient of the Holy Spirit, but who sends the Holy Spirit? Well, God. He's the one who is our Heavenly Father who begins the process of being born from above. So action is involved on our part. We have to see what he says to do, and then we need to do it.

We can look back again to the book of Matthew, chapter 7, the Sermon on the Mount of Ginn. Always a good place to go. Always whole pages full of information about what should we do. In Matthew 7, verse 7, he talks about, verse 7 and 8, asking, it will be given, seeking, you can find, knock, it will be opened to you, whoever asks, receives, whoever searches, finds, whoever knocks, the door will be opened. See, that's a process that involves action.

If we don't ask, then why would God be obligated to give? If we don't understand the need that we need God, that's what I said about Paul. He clearly understood. I need God. I need help. I need to be given power from on high. I need to do the job I'm going to be asked to do. I have got to have God's help. But it says, ask and seek and knock.

See, I pray that verse every day. I can, since it's simple enough, I can remember, ask and seek and knock. And so I can pray that God will give me the motivation to knock and to knock and to knock and to keep knocking on the door of the kingdom. See, I want to be motivated to do that, and I want you to be motivated to do that. And we need to ask. Certainly, we do that in our prayers. We do that in other ways, perhaps. What is it that we're supposed to seek?

See, well, he says, seek my kingdom, seek my righteousness, seek my faith, seek my will, seek the mind of Jesus. See, I want that more than anything on earth. But he says, I'm not just going to cram that down your throat. You need to ask for it. You need to seek it. You need to fill your head with the Word of God. That's what is incredibly important as I'm thinking about this or talking about this topic of being chosen. What does it mean to be chosen? Well, God does, again, choose us and calls us a chosen generation. But he also says, well, you have your part of responding, of asking, of seeking, of knocking. What is Matthew 13? You have a section here a few pages over Matthew 13, the parable of the sower, or the parable of the seed that is sown, and the parable of the soil. And there's several categories there, and of course, the last category, the fourth one, is good soil. And we always want to be, I'm trying to avoid the others. I need to be sure I'm not in number three, being choked by this world. But number four, the fourth category, this is verse 18 through 23. Again, I'm not going to read it.

It says, even in the good soil, some produce 30, some 60, some 100. What's that about? Some of that is involving our actions, our desire, our choosing to be guided by God. So you see, the church talked about as those who are chosen. And yet the same word that's used for chosen is also used in numerous other places, and it's translated the elect. Here in Luke 18, I want us to read this.

So being chosen is, I think, very similar to being the elect.

Luke 18, Jesus gave a parable about praying. And then after he finished the parable, he says in chapter 18 of Luke in verse 7, And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones, his elect ones, who cry to him day and night? That appears to involve some activity, some crying to God day and night for the elect of God.

In Matthew 24, you're familiar with where this is, but it talks about the end of the age and about the things that will happen right before Christ returns. In verse 21, Matthew 24, verse 21, he says, For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been since the beginning of the world, until now, never has been, never will be. In those days, if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. Being mankind would not remain alive, but for the sake of the elect, same word is chosen, for the sake of those who are chosen, those days shall be cut short. And if anyone says, hey, here's a messiah, there he is, don't believe it, don't be fooled, because in verse 24, the false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders the leadest ray of possible, even those who were chosen, even the elect.

See, our telecast the other day involved a discussion of who's the antichrist and explain how the antichrist will actually have a very strong religious connection. And yet we have got to be able to know the truth, we have got to believe the truth, we have got to love the truth, if we are going to be the chosen of God that's described in Revelation 17.

So let's go to the last one. Point number three, the faithful. Who will fit into the category of the faithful? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that that's yet to be seen. Yet to be seen for all of us. Are we going to remain faithful unto the ant? Are we going to be a sprinter and flash in the pan? You know, I think back to what little I know about track. There were some who were very good sprinters, and that was always good, because you needed fast people in the 100 or 200. And then you also had the milers or the two milers, or the longer. I guess you could go to the distance, the marathon runners. So what kind of a runner are we? Are we a very short-lived runner, or are we going to be a long-distance runner and be there for the long haul? See, that's what the faithful are talking about. In Matthew 24, I guess back a page from where we were. In verse 13, it says, The one who endures unto the end is the one who's going to be saved.

And so we do want to be understanding properly God's calling. We want to comprehend His choosing and our choosing to yield to God. But we also want to be faithful to endure unto the end. See, the one who endures unto the end will be saved. Jesus said this two or three different times. You see them listed here in Matthew. He explained that endurance is required. And sometimes we might misunderstand that because...

You know, what do we do? We just hang on until we die?

Do we just endure in whatever condition we might be in? Well, that's part of it, but that's not near all of it.

That's part of it because... And again, you know, what we are taught or shown that, well, you know, we can be enduring unto the end out of determination, out of commitment, out of devotion. We can be enduring unto the end out of being stubborn, because sometimes we're more stubborn than we are determined.

And yet, what Christ really is saying is, those who are going to be saved are going to be enduring unto the end. But what we read in Revelation, and we can read several verses here in the first part of the book of Revelation, starting in chapter 2, is that we want to endure unto the end. What we actually want to do is that... Here, we'll read this in Revelation 2, in the letters to the churches that are listed here, to the church of Ephesus. He says, if you do your work and repent, where you fall short... Verse 7, let anyone who has ears listen what the Spirit is saying to the churches, to everyone who overcomes, who conquers, not just endures, because they're stubborn, but who overcomes their nature. To overcome this system of the society we live in, to overcome Satan's attempt to scramble us or to distract us, he says, to everyone who overcomes, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life and the paradise of God. Here, he's giving a number of different descriptions of a reward of eternal life. We drop down to chapter 2, verse 26, it says, to everyone who overcomes, who conquers, and yet continues to do my works to the end. So that's a combination of not just enduring, but actually overcoming to the end, to that person I will give authority of the nations to rule them with a rod of iron, as when clay pots are shattered, even as I received authority from my father, the one who overcomes I will give the morning star. And so, again, he gives different descriptions of the reward that he holds out before us.

But for all of us, we have to be determined to be overcomers. We have to be determined to be faithful unto the end.

Even here in chapter 3, go to the final message here in chapter 3 of Laodicea, he says, you think that you are rich, and yet you don't realize that you're not. Verse 19, I've reproven discipline those I love, therefore I want you to repent. Listen, I'm standing at the door knocking, and verse 21, to the one who overcomes, overcomes unto the end, I will give a place with me to be in my throne, just as I myself overcame, as I myself conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. But whoever has an ear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To hear, he gives us instruction. He gives us direction. He shows us we need to be the called, the chosen, and the faithful, to be with Christ when he rules in the kingdom of God. And so, as I said earlier, how can we be absolutely sure? What do I need to be focused on to be absolutely sure? 2 Peter 1. We went over this in Bible study the other night. But here in 2 Peter 1, you've got an incredibly wonderful summary of what I need to be focused on, what I need to be thinking about, what needs to occupy my time, my thoughts, my reading. This is what he says in verse 10, Brethren, be all the more eager or diligent to confirm your calling and your election, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. And so here Peter gives direct guidance to be sure that we will succeed, that we will be a part of God's family, that we will endure unto the end, that we will be the faithful that he speaks of. Up in verse 3, Peter says, His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness.

See, that's an incredible statement. He has given us everything that we need. Through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness, thus He has given us through these things His precious and very great promises so that through them we can escape the corruption that is in the world because of lust. That's where we have been, and that we become partakers, participants of what? The divine nature, a totally different nature, a nature that can be transformed because the Father began the process of being born from above. He began the receipt of the Holy Spirit that has to be nurtured and has to grow and has to be stirred up and has to be setting us on fire. See, that's a part of what Mr. Kubik mentioned. What can we do to stir all of us up to actually achieve what God wants us to achieve?

So he says in verse 5, for this very reason, you should make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and your goodness with knowledge, and your knowledge with self-control, and with self-control, endurance, and with endurance, godliness, with godliness, brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love, the love of God.

See, how important is that listing? You know, I can enumerate the fruits of the Spirit, as I'm pretty sure you can too. I value those incredible qualities more than anything on earth, more than anything. And certainly here he talks about ultimately having the love of God, which Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, it is more important than anything else. Any knowledge, any amount of faith, any other gift. He says the love of God is more important than all of that because it is absolutely permanent and complete and supreme, even about faith and hope. But see what it says here is that we have been given everything we need to have the divine nature, and we need to grow in faith and in goodness and knowledge and self-control and in endurance, and godliness and love. For he says in verse 8, if these things are yours, and if they are increasing among you, then they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For everyone who likes these things is nearsighted and blind and is forgetful of the cleansing of our past sins. He also gives some warnings here. He says if we don't focus on this, well, then we're still stumbling around in darkness. We're stumbling around in the blindness. We're not remembering that God has cleansed us and pointed us in the direction that we must go to be a part of his divine family. So he says, therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and your election, for if you do this, then you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

He says, I'm the one who has everything to give. I'm the one who can make you succeed. You simply have to be focused on these important things. So in answer to the question, how can we be absolutely sure? Well, this is. Just do that. And of course, you know, that's what we if we pray about that, if we commit that to memory, if we commit that to our discussion with God about how I so want to do this, well, then we're going to be stirred up and we're going to be able to know that whenever Christ returns and whether we're still alive or whether we're resurrected at that point, that we can actually be with Him and be considered those who had been called, those who had been chosen, and those who had remained faithful. So as we go into our Holy Day celebration, because that's what we're going to do here in the next several weeks and months, we want to keep in mind the important things, and that is to be sure that we end up being be called the chosen and the faithful.