The Callings Of God
We are called to obtain the glory of God, his likeness in our lives. We are called to holiness. We are made into His likeness through the trials we endure.
Transcript
Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? You doin’ all right today? Well I trust so, bless your heart. This is your friend, Bob Cook. We’re back together again you and I. I like that, don’t you? It’s nice to get with you, day by day, over the Word of God. What a blessed combination that is.
We’re looking at 1 Peter 5:10, where Peter says, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus; after ye have suffered a while, make your perfect, establish, strengthen, settled you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Now we talked about God’s grace a bit. And I want you to think with me once again about this matter of God’s call. Galatians 1:15 has Paul saying God called him by His grace. What we need to realize is that it is absolutely of God’s grace that He has anything at all to do with us. “Sin separates from God,” Isaiah told his people, quoting the very Word of Jehovah.
“The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your inequities have separated between you and your God. And your sins have hid his face from you that He will not hear.” Sin separates from God. And so it’s His grace — ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense’ — that’s the acronym that spells out the blessed truth. It’s His grace that, that makes it possible for Him to reach down across the stairways of the stars and, and pick you and me up, and save us.
“Here is His love,” says John the apostle, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” And you might very well include the word ‘first’ there — He loved us first, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. He called us by His grace. Would you take time now and then just to thank God for having anything to do with you? “What is man?” said the psalmist wonderingly, “That thou art mindful, of Him.” The Bible says that God counts all the nations as the dust, the fine dust of the balance.
When the jeweler is weighing out diamonds or gold, sometimes he blows on the balance tray to blow off any speck of dust that might be there to affect the delicate weight of the material. That’s what the, the figure of speech is — the dust of the balance. Dust, that’s all God says we are, and yet he pays attention to us.
Dr. Pettingill used to say, “Yes we’re dust, that’s all we are. And dust that’s stuck on itself is mud.” So now you know what you are, if you’re stuck up. (Laughs) He use to chuckle as he came out with little jewels like that. ‘Called by His grace’. Take time to thank God for having anything to do with you in the first place. It’s His initiative; it’s the outpouring of His divine, eternal love. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son.
‘Called by His grace’. And we’re called to His kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 2:12: Kingdom is the, is the area of authority to the king. And our Lord Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Now I’m not going to get into an argument with anybody over the dispensational difference of those two terms; you can settle that for yourself. The point is, a kingdom is something that belongs to a king. And when the king is on the throne, He rules His kingdom.
We’re taught by our blessed Lord Jesus to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in Earth as it is in heaven.’ Here again it’s your calling to be under the king. Christian life is not a democracy. You’re not entitled to vote which way things should be. One of the great trends in our day is that people make up their own rules. Mr. Gallop, who carries on these different polls, is said to have carried on a survey of American people. About 80%+ claimed to be Christian in their faith. But an equally high number, in the high 70%, said they believed in making up their own rules for their life.
What is America coming to? We are a quazi-religious people living the way we want to. Well, have you thought of the fact that this is the kingdom? And you’ve been called to be part of a kingdom. You and I need to be found praying as did our master, “Not My will, but Thine, be done.” Obey the king. Would you try something? Today, or some of you are just, just about to fall asleep because you hear the broadcast at night. So for you it would be tomorrow. Whenever you have opportunity, spend a whole waking day giving attention to doing things that God tells you to do in His word.
Don’t go off into some kind of wild religious hysteria — that’s not what I am advocating, you know that. God speaks through His Word, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, on the basis of the Word. But obey God on something today. You would be amazed at how it enriches your life and strengthens your faith. You’re called to His kingdom; you’re a subject of the King. Then we’re called to holiness. You find there in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, “We are not called,” he said, “not to uncleanness, but to holiness.” The, the opposite of holiness is uncleanness. Anything that isn’t holy, is unclean. God looks for holy and clean vessels.
Paul says to Timothy, “In a great house there are many vessels; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and worthy of the master’s use.” That phrase ‘meet for the masters use’ — Greek word, eucharistos, ‘easy to use’. You want it to be easy for God to use you? Spend time at the throne of grace, letting the blessed Spirit of God deal with those areas that need to be cleaned up in our lives. Then you’ll be easy for God to use. Called to cleanness, called to holiness.
Then it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:14, “We are called to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus.” Called to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus. Now this doesn’t come in any one given day, although the Bible says, “When He shall appear we should be like Him, for we should see Him as He is. That would be the final — the penultimate — point at which transformation occurs. And you’ll have a death-proof, sin-proof body, and you’ll shine for all eternity with the glory of God on you.
Well what about today? I have to live today. Well go over to 2 Corinthians 3:18. I quote it for you: “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.” Whose image? His image. “Beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same kind of glory,” you might paraphrase it, “even as by the spirit of the Lord.” Spend some time with your Lord, and find as you go from the place of prayer, that the shine of His glory lingers on your countenance. Called to obtain the glory, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:9 says, “We’re called to a holy calling.” The thrust of your life needs to be God-glorifying, and holy.I bring this out, not to point out anybody’s fault; just ask a question. Listen, have you asked yourself — recently that is — “Which way is my life going, and what drives my life?” ‘They were driven’ of course is a popular term, now. It’s, it’s coming to popular usage. We say of the college, that it is enrollment-driven. What does that mean? Well it means you have to have students if you’re going to have a college, you know, He’s a driven person — what do we mean? Means he’s got some things he simply has to do. If it’s money or if it’s, if it’s influence and power, or if it’s popularity, or whatever it may be, driven. Well, ask yourself this question: “What really drives my life?” See, “what really drives my life?”
Well, Paul says, “We’ve been called with a Holy calling. That is to say the driving force of my life is to be, to glorify God. A holy calling, something worthy of the very presence, and personality, and power, of Almighty God. Give some thought to what drives your life, beloved. And as you think and pray about it, draw ever closer to your Lord, who can make a difference in that department. Then of course, Peter says in the verse that we’re looking at, “He’s called us unto His eternal glory, by Christ Jesus.”
And that of course is in contrast to the rest of the verse, “after ye have suffered a while…” There’s not much eternal glory and that, is it? What’s He going to do? He’s going to make you perfect; establish, and strengthen, and settle you. And then to Him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. The strange and wonderful economy of God is that He takes people that He’s redeemed, and allows them to go through testing, and trials, and afflictions, so that they can come out shining forever with His eternal glory.
Small thought here: Your contact with Jesus Christ today, provides you with a small portion of that eternal glory that you are going to be manifesting for all eternity — for ever, and for ever, and for ever; eternal glory, the shine of God will be on your life. And it starts today.
You go back to that verse I quoted from 2 Corinthians 3:18. It says, “We are changed into the same image,” — that’s His image — “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, the glory of God is on you now.” We’re called to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I gave you that verse in 2 Thessalonians. And now he says, “You are called.” He’s called us to His eternal glory. So one of these days the job will be finished, and God will have put us through the testing that has refined, that have refined the, the precious metal, so to speak.
“That the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried by fire,” says Peter. God wants to refine us, He wants us to be pure, He wants us to be worthy of the heaven where He’s going to put us. And so He allows the testings to come so that the result may be, His eternal glory. And how is it coming about? By Christ Jesus.
Ever so often you run up against the scoffer that says, “How can you insis-, how can you possibly insist that there’s only salvation through Jesus Christ? There’s a lot of good people in this world,” they say. Of course my answer is, “Yes, of course. And many pagans are, are far kinder, and more thoughtful than a lot of Christians I know.” But the Bible says, “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” The Lord Jesus Christ is your way to eternal life, and to God’s eternal glory.
Blessed Father today, Oh may we have the shine of God’s glory on us, as a foretaste of that wonderful day when we see Thee, face to face. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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