Callings

1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 11. As you know, how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as fathers, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not, as a word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God.

You know, that's a good way to look at ministry and the word of God. It is from God. It is not from men.

Chapter 4 verse 1. Furthermore then, we beseech your brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, as as you have received of us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. The charges came by the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God. We've been hearing about the will of God. Pay very careful attention to this, whether we're young or old.

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence or lust, even as the Gentiles which know not God. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God. You see, if we have a problem with spirituality and doing that which is spiritual and right, though men sometimes and overseers may desire to guide and direct, and some people take it as a personal affront, but really, it is what God is seeking to accomplish.

They do not despise man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. Now keep your finger here, but a verse or two from 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1, verse 8. We shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now back to chapter 4 again of 1st Thessalonians, and we'll read a verse 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And I trust the Lord to bless what we have read, and give me special help to speak on what is upon my heart. Election day is a couple days away. Two years ago, there was a man that was elected president of the United States of America.

Now I am sure that Mr. Obama has done his very best in his administration, and of course the conditions of our country today, economically and in other ways. Many people are looking back to a former administration, and they are blaming others for what we're in economically and so on. And so Mr. Obama and all that are with him in power, they have implemented something called a stimulus plan.

And they have went to work, and I don't know where they've gotten all their money, and I don't know that they're so concerned how they're going to pay it back, but they have went to work at giving us stimulus money, and some of the things that they have used to stimulate our economy are good and some are questionable, and I'm not a politician, and I don't want to present myself as such. But what I want to say is he comes with this stimulus plan to take our economy and things that are lagging, things that are in a shortcoming, things that are not desirable, and they're hoping to get things turned around for the purpose that our country will be a better country, a place where there'll be more jobs, where there will be people who will have more opportunity, and that, you know, we're all going to have more money in our pocket. And that's what he's trying to accomplish with the stimulus plan.

Furthermore, there is suggestion that there will be more of it given. Well, I don't care about all that so much, really, it doesn't really affect me. It hasn't put any money in my pocket, and that's not what I'm looking for.

But I want to speak to you, dear Saints of God, today about a spiritual stimulus. And I think we have read four things here today that should be of a spiritual stimulus to us, each one of us. We have heard about the young believers here that are not in the assembly, and we're looking at a lot of young believers that are in the assembly, and we look at the middle-aged, we look at the older, and you know, each one of us, if we do a close examination of our life, you know what we're going to find out? We're going to come in with what our brother Brandon Dahl preached yesterday.

Maybe we're dissatisfied. Maybe we're unhappy. Maybe there's something that's not right in our Christian experience, and you know what I think we need? We need to be stimulated from the Holy Scriptures.

Now, four things. First of all, we've read about. We have been called.

I want to speak about our calling today. We have been called into the kingdom of God and its eternal glory. We have been called not unto uncleanness, chapter 4, but we have been called to holiness.

Still with me? When we come to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9, we have been called into fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. I find this very exciting. I find this something that should stimulate us, because a lot of us are just dragging our feet along, and you know what we're feeling like? Well, you know the Lord's soon going to come, and we're going to soon be with the Lord, and what maybe just isn't right in our Christian experience, it'll all be passed then.

But brethren, we are to be people with tremendous enjoyment as we move on toward our eternal home. And then finally, a call that we haven't gotten yet. But there's a shout that's coming, and it could be at any time.

It thrills my soul, and it thrills you too. And when we hear that shout, when we hear that call, we're going to vacate this place. We're going to leave this dark, dismal world that hasn't brought any joy to us.

And we're going to be with and like the Lord Jesus Christ, and what a call that will be. And we wait with it with great anticipation. Now back to our first reading in chapter 2. We have been called to his kingdom and glory.

Sometimes I read in the newspaper, and I hear news bits about people that are, they go up the ladder of success, and they get great and high and mighty. And they're looked upon, they're respected by so many. Some people are elected to great positions.

I've already mentioned that. And so there are people, even in religious circles, you know, they go through quite a commotion maybe to appoint a pope, and to put a man in a place of great height, as far as religion is concerned. But brethren, all in things are very trivial.

Has it ever dawned on you? I'm sure it has, but are we living in the good of it? The fact that I have been called into God's kingdom, and the glory associated with it. Well, I know nothing greater to be called into the kingdom of God. Now we, we sometimes like to preach the gospel to the unsaved, and we like to preach about the call of God to them.

After all, it was Bartimaeus, he got called. Arise, he calleth thee, and so on. And we use that in the gospel, of course.

But you know, it's a wonderful thing to ever come to hear the gospel, and to be called by the grace of God, and called into the blessing of God's salvation. But I'm looking at something here that is positional truth. I have been called into the everlasting kingdom of God.

Now, I think that's fantastic. Nothing like it. And the glory that's associated with it.

You see, I think of the, I think of the kingdom of God, and I'm not going to go on big dissertation here, because I'm not capable of it anyhow. But you remember when Daniel, how he presented that man Belshazzar, and when he got out of the field, and God had worked with that man, and he brought in, he was brought into an understanding of the greatness of God, and he says, that kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. That's what we're linked with, brethren.

Well, that helped you pick up your steps a little bit. Well, that spiritually invigorates you a little bit. If it doesn't, better go around the foundation.

Because it's a tremendous thing to be linked with God. To have this relationship with God. To have a relationship and know Him as God and Father.

Our relationship with the Lord Jesus, my Lord and Savior. To have the indwelling of the Spirit of God within us, linked with the everlasting kingdom. I think of what's going to come along in this kingdom in days to come.

We think of God finally going to ultimately have His way, where the world is filled with rebellion. Everybody abhors the awful things that are happening, terrorism in the world today, and it seems to be something that no one has come up with a way to contradict it, or to beat it down, and to get it stopped. But I want to tell you, this world is presenting itself as a very dark background.

The witcher will be the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He's going to come and put all the enemies beneath His feet. I'm linked with that kingdom.

I'm linked with that king. I'm linked with the blessed person of the Lord Jesus. Ought to not have a transforming effect upon me in my life and living.

I think of what's coming then. You know, there's the time coming when the beast and the false prophet, and the third person is going to be the devil into a lake of fire. They're going to have their rightful place.

And the Lord Jesus is going to come into that eastern gate, and He's going to set up His kingdom. I'm linked with that king in the kingdom. And to see what will happen and transpire for that millennial reign of Christ.

And then when that's all over with, to come into that time when there is the eternal state. And everything that's redeemable will have been redeemed to God through the sacrifice of Christ. I'm glad tonight, today, sorry, I'm glad today to be linked and involved with in the kingdom of God.

You young believers, have you appreciated that? And the glory that's associated with it? I trust if it hasn't made a little inroad into your life and an appreciation today, that it will. You are subjects in God's everlasting kingdom. It humbles us to think about it.

It gives us no reason to be haughty and proud. But it should certainly fill our hearts of gratitude and give us fortitude and determination to live as those linked with the everlasting kingdom of God. Coming over to chapter 4, we've already pointed it out a little bit.

The commandments, He said, we gave you by the Lord Jesus. And this is the will of God. I want to point that out for all of us.

The will of God for all of us is our sanctification to be set apart and set apart to Him to live in a saintly way. For we are saints, we have been set apart. And He says, as a result of it, we have been called not to uncleanness.

You see, we could go to Galatians chapter 5 and look at the verses 19, 20 and 21. And you can see the works of the flesh. But when you come down to the next two verses, 22 and 23, the ninefold fruit of the Spirit.

And you see, we have been facilitated with the Holy Spirit of God to indwell us. And we have been called unto holiness, not uncleanness. You know, it's interesting that the Apostle Peter, in his first epistle, chapter 1, verse 16, this is what he says, As it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

And where did he get that? He got that back out of the book of Leviticus. That's maybe there three or four times. And if you count better than I, maybe you'll find more.

It says there, Be ye holy, for I am holy. What's the book of Leviticus about? It's about worship. It's about approaching God.

It's coming into the presence of God. But there's a holiness that is demanded if we are to enter into the presence of God. You remember chapter 10? They'd have in a bayou when they failed to exercise holiness.

And you know the catastrophic end that came to them. But coming back to our responsibility today, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Be ye holy is a mandate.

For I am holy, such before me the model. The awesome character of our God, He is infinitely holy. And some might say, well, that's an awful high standard to aspire to, holiness.

We have been equipped with everything we need, brethren and sisters, young and old, to be holy people. You know, sometimes I see people say about those that try to live a life that is according to the charges that have been given by the apostle here, by the Lord Jesus. And they like to say to those that try to live a holy life, you know what they say? Well, you know, they're just legal.

There's a lot of confusion about that today. You know what legality is? It's people that have taken up a mode of living or things that they want to practice, and because they think it's right, they practice it, though they cannot support it with the holy scriptures. But it's a sad day when God's dear people, maybe a young believer here today, and maybe other Christians might laugh at you, because you want to do what is given in the Word of God.

And you realize you've been called unto holiness. And others may laugh at that. They may belittle it.

They may accuse you of obtaining a standard that's too high. Well, we can never attain to a standard that is higher than the Word of God. And so forget about those that are carnal and carnal people.

And listen, you remember your calling. You have been called unto holiness. Let me call upon you to dress a little different.

I will call upon you to be different in your motives and your focus and your purpose in life. It don't make any difference if you're in great school. Maybe there's a 14-year-old Christian here today, and you're afraid how you're going to go into junior high, or into high school, or off to university.

Or how you're going to respond in the workplace. Listen, have the standard. Be ye holy, for I am holy.

You've been called unto holiness. Don't you worry about anything else. Because we have read already in our reading today that there is a bema.

There's a day when we're going to meet Christ. And what is done for His glory, and for His honor, and for His pleasure. Holy living for Him will certainly be well rewarded in a day to come.

Not that we would seek any of us to be holy to obtain a reward. But I think it is a tremendous testimony to our calling that we have into that kingdom and glory. And so, we have been called, not unto uncleanness, but we have been called unto holiness.

Be ye holy, says the Scripture, says God, because He is holy. Certainly, as we think of 1 John chapter 2 and verse 6, we should walk as He walked. I've been thinking about that, it's been speaking to my soul.

Brethren, just the lackadaisical existence in this world, as we move toward heaven, is not good enough. We should be a people who desire to walk as He walked, and to live for His pleasure. We have been called.

Is there any mistake about that today? Speaker included. Perhaps this is needed more by me than anyone in my audience. But we have been called unto holiness.

Oh, the dignity of it. Called unto the kingdom of God and its glory. Called unto holiness.

Oh, how awesome it really is. For sinners as we were saved by the grace of God, and we have been called into this. We've been invited right into it, by God's grace and His divine purposes.

But then I want to think about being called into the fellowship of His Son. You may say, well, my fellowship is, if I'm in somebody's fellowship, really the fellowship, or the word may well be communion, is when I come Lord's Day morning to remember the Lord Jesus. Brethren, this goes far more out than that.

Certainly so. I think of communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is something that we should strive for every day.

A longing within our souls, not only to be able to come to the Lord Jesus and present something to Him as far as our gratitude in our hearts for what the grace of God has accomplished. But brethren, we might know the Lord Jesus better. Isn't that what Peter was so much occupied in his last epistle? He starts out that epistle, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

What was needed there? A greater knowledge of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Then he comes to the last verse in that epistle, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forevermore.

Called to communion, fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Does it get any greater than that? You answer that question. Called into a fellowship with Jesus Christ.

We would desire to know more about Him, wouldn't we now? That we might be more like Him. I've been scanning the Gospel of John, and I'm finding there how the Lord Jesus Christ walked. And it's a challenge to me.

Is there any exercise on my part to walk as He walked? Should be in this fellowship. Now I just want to point out one thing before I close this. When I see the position, strategically if I could use a word, of verse 9 in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians.

You know what? It sits right there ahead of something that is revealed in the subsequent verses. And that is about the matter that Paul was addressing in Corinth about division. Division among the people there in that assembly.

I'm going to make a simple statement. And I'm going to submit something to you. And I believe if we realize the great truth of being called into communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that transpires within our soul as God intends it to be, it is going to change in some ways the negative environments that sometimes are found in God's assemblies.

Or maybe negative relationships between assemblies. You see, if the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more we know of Him, and the more we seek to learn of Him, and the more we follow Him, and the more we subject ourselves to the Holy Spirit of God teaching us and guiding us to be linked with this Blessed One and to be in communion with Him, it will affect our relationships with others. You might want to argue that with me afterwards, but it seems to me that is what is being said in chapter 1. When you come to verse 9, and then he goes right into the matters of divisions and problems in the assembly.

You say, sometimes assemblies have problems. Yes, that is true. What's the cure? Verse 9. If everybody in the assembly was knowing more and more and more the richness of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, it would just eradicate those problems.

And if I'm wrong, there's older men here, and you can straighten me out. I'll be glad to listen. But finally, this last call.

The shout. We're all waiting for that. I had an interesting conversation.

I don't know if our brother Norm Page is here. He said, you know, is that your father's feeling the other day? And he said, I really like that casket that was made by family members. He wanted to know how he could get one.

Well, I said, I don't know. Maybe I've got some boys who would make one for you. But I said, I thought about him asking the same favor.

You know, I'm not really planning on dying. Well, he says, you know, we had cemetery lots purchased. And he said, we let them go.

I said, why don't you let the casket go? Forget about it. We're not looking to die. We're all intently waiting, aren't we, for the shout.

And that call is going to bring a tremendous change for us. I don't have to stand here and try to teach you that. You know what it's all about.

We're all going to be changed. And we're going to be all caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And this is intended to be a comfort to us.

And I think of those three calls that I have presented to you, called into the kingdom as glory, called into holiness, called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, how this is all going to change. Because we're going to a place where we will not sin anymore. We're not going to have any sickness or sadness anymore.

And we're not going to have any burdens anymore. Maybe some are having economic burdens, health problems. I don't know.

But you know, we're going to hear that shout. And then in that day, we're going to come into a fuller enjoyment of the everlasting kingdom of our God. And we'll never there have to seek the will of God, as suggested in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians.

And there's not going to be a question about holy living in a dark, morbid world anymore. And we're going to look right upon the Lord Jesus and all His splendor and beauty and loveliness. I'll tell you, we'll know something of communion in a fuller way than what we know today.

Brethren, one of these days, we're going to hear the shout. And we're all looking for it. Brethren, may we have grace in days to come until He comes.

Or maybe today He'll come. That we might be a people cognizant of the fact of how we have been called into a place of privilege and responsibility and to live our lives for His glory and honor.