Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? We will read one verse: Revelation 17:14.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful.
Some time ago, as I was waiting before the Lord, these words came to me: called, chosen, faithful.
Now we know that here is the last battle ever fought in this age. Actually, it is the battle of Armageddon. It is a most unusual battle because it is a battle between the Lamb and those who follow Him, with the beast and those that follow the beast.
The detailed description is found in Revelation 19, but here we find this last battle being fought. Now, of course, this is not the first battle. This is the last of a war that extends through many ages. It is the war between God and Satan. It is a war that has been going on for thousands and thousands of years.
And two thousand years ago, a decisive battle was fought at Calvary. There we find that the Lamb of God defeated His enemy completely. He routed His enemies and made a public show of them.
It is on the basis of that victory that our Lord Jesus won on Calvary’s cross that He rose from the dead, ascended on high, and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
Now, that decisive battle was already won, but the war goes on. The enemy was defeated, but he is still trying very hard to hold on to his possessions.
And now we are all involved in small skirmishes. You know, to us, we feel that we are in a big battle. But, as a matter of fact, we are in very small skirmishes. The battle was already won, and we are here just to mop up the enemy, to finalize what the Lord has already accomplished.
Now why is it that the war is still going on? The battle was won; it should be over. But it is still going on. Now why?
I personally believe, and I believe this is what Scripture says, that we can see this in the children of Israel. God delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty arm. Of course, news travels fast, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years before they arrived on the eastern shore of Jordan. But the news was already there in the land of Canaan.
The people in Canaan heard what God had done, and, as a matter of fact, you find that their hearts fainted. Especially after the children of Israel crossed the River Jordan, the Lord Himself became their Commander-in-Chief.
The battle was already won. The children of Israel were there just applying the victory upon each city, upon every king, upon every foot of the land, to possess their possession.
But it is very strange. The Bible says God did not destroy the enemies all at once. Why? Because He wanted His people to learn war. He wanted His people to know by experience the victory of God, the strong arm of God.
And God also wanted to use such opportunities to test their faithfulness. If they were faithful to God, they would go from victory to victory because the war was already won. But they had to learn how to fight, and they had to be tested in their faithfulness to God.
I think in the same way it is with us today. The decisive battle was already fought and won. The war should be over, but we are still in the war, in spiritual conflict. Why?
It is because it is the will of God that we shall learn how to fight the good fight. We should learn to know the victory of Christ. We shall apply that victory to every issue and every situation. At the same time, it is a test of our faithfulness to God.
One day, the last battle will be fought. That will be the battle of Armageddon, and you will find the Lamb coming down from heaven with His army. Now, who are in the ranks of His army? The called, the chosen, and the faithful.
In other words, these people who are called and chosen and faithful were called and chosen and faithful while they were on earth, before the Lord’s return.
Throughout the centuries, God has had His people upon this earth. For two thousand years, we find God’s people upon this earth, and God’s people have been, and are still, involved in this battle of the war of the ages. Many have gone before us, many are now here with us, and probably some will still come after us.
But you find that we are all being called, chosen, and proven to be faithful. If that is the case, then when the Lord shall return for that last battle, we will be His army. We will be following Him. We are qualified to be His army in that last battle.
If you read Revelation 19, you will find that it is a most unusual battle, because actually you follow the Lamb, but you do not need to fight at all. Out of His mouth comes a two-edged sword. His word, His breath, just destroys the enemy.
But thank God, those who are called and chosen and faithful, they are in that victory. I think that is the greatest honor ever given to God’s people. But remember, all this has to be done today.
If we are not the called, if we are not the chosen, if we are not the faithful, then when that last battle comes, we will have no part in that glory. But if we are the called, the chosen, and the faithful, then, thank God, we will be there.
These are the overcomers of the church. These are the people who have known the victory of Christ in their lives on earth. These are people who are faithful to God even unto death. These are the people who will not only come with the Lord to that final battle, but who will also reign with Him for a thousand years.
So, brothers and sisters, I feel before the Lord that, if He wills, we will spend this time together considering the called, the chosen, and the faithful. Tonight we will consider the first one: the called.
Do you know that God never asks for volunteers? If He should ask for volunteers, no one is qualified to volunteer. You find that God always calls.
Because He is the Sovereign. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the originator of all things. He is God.
Now, anything that does not start with God will not be accepted by God. Everything has to come from Him. Because of this, you find that He never asks for volunteers, because volunteers use their own thoughts. But He always calls.
In the Garden of Eden, man sinned. There you find God came into the garden and called Adam, “Where are you?”
You find Abraham. There he was in Ur of the Chaldees, and the God of glory appeared to him and called him. In Hebrews 11, you find that when God called Abraham, he obeyed. He went out to the place that God would give him for an inheritance, not knowing where, but only knowing that God was calling him.
Abraham did not volunteer. He could not. It was God who called him. All he did was obey and follow.
The same thing was true with the children of Israel. When they were in Egypt, God called them out of Egypt. You remember Hosea 11:1:
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt.
God called them out of Egypt.
Think of Paul. He never volunteered; God called him. When he was on the road to Damascus, trying to wipe out the followers of Christ, the Lord appeared to him and called him:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.
And Paul himself said that when he was in his mother’s womb, God had set him apart, and then He called him by His grace.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember one thing: we are all the called of God. No one is a volunteer. God starts the whole thing, and because He started it, He will finish it. That is our assurance.
Think of our salvation. How are we saved? Do we seek after God?
In Romans 3, we are told:
There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none that understandeth;
There is none that seeketh after God.
They have all turned aside; they are together become unprofitable.
But thank God, even though we are in that kind of situation, we find that one day God calls us by His grace.
When you think of all the religions in the world, how do these religions come about? When you look into all the different religions, you find that they all originate with men. Here is a man, there is another man, and somehow that man is seeking eternity, seeking for something.
As they seek it, what they get is another religion. It is not the truth; it is a deception, a counterfeit. Why? Because it begins with man. It does not start with God.
So when we come to our own salvation, we find that it is God who has originated salvation, and He has called us to Himself.
Now, on this matter of being called, this matter is composed basically of two things: we are called out, and we are called into. There is a negative side: we are called out. There is a positive side: we are called into.
Think of Abraham. God called him out—out of his native land, out of his kindred—and called him to go to where God would show him.
Now why was it that he must come out? Because if he did not come out of Ur of the Chaldees, he would never be able to enter into God’s purpose.
You know, sometimes we think of our salvation, of our calling, as a very small thing. We think of our salvation as something that will deliver us out of hell and perhaps put us into heaven. That is what we think salvation is, or what we think we are called out of and into.
But if you read Scripture—for instance, 2 Peter 1:3–4—you find that God has called us by glory and virtue.
God has called us by glory and virtue. Now, what is glory? Glory is something very difficult to define, but all we know is that glory is what God is. That is glory. That is what God Himself is.
And what is virtue? Virtue there is not your virtue or my virtue; it is God’s virtue. That is to say, what God has done.
God has called us by glory. In other words, our calling is not a small thing. Our calling is something that must satisfy God Himself.
You know, we think that salvation is to satisfy us. We have a need, and through salvation our needs are satisfied. Everything that is good enough for us—but it is not good enough for God. We are not just called so that our needs are satisfied. We are called by glory.
Unless glory is satisfied, the calling is not complete. So our calling is a tremendous thing. We are all called according to what God is. We are called until God says, “I am satisfied now.” That is glory.
And we are called by virtue—His virtue. We do not have any virtue of our own, but God has all the virtues, and He has done everything for us, everything that will bring us into glory. We are called by glory and virtue.
Then, of course, Paul said, “He has called me by His grace.” Now, what is grace? Grace is the undeserved gift of God. In other words, we do not deserve it.
Grace does not depend on who you are and what you are. Grace depends upon the Giver—what He is and what He is willing to give. Grace is freely given. Grace is universal.
That shows us that we are unworthy. We do not deserve anything. It is all of God. God gives grace to us who are undeserving, and because it is grace, it is universal. It is not partial. In other words, grace is given to all.
Whether you receive it or not is up to you. But whether it is given to you or not is up to God, and God does give grace to all.
So when you think of the calling—God has called us—it is a tremendous thing. It is a big thing. We are the called. Thank God for that.
Oftentimes, we do not realize what we are called out of and what we are called into. I think it is because of our lack of understanding that our participation in that which God has called us into is very restricted.
We need to know what God has called us out of and into. We need to know what the calling is. We have already described it: it is by His glory and by His virtue, and it is by His grace. It is not measured by us; it is measured by Him.
Brothers and sisters, what a privilege it is to be the called. It is nothing to us, not because we are better than anybody else. It is simply the sovereign mercy of God.
You remember God told the children of Israel, “Do not think that because you are more than all the nations.” As a matter of fact, they were the smallest. It was because He loved them, and because of His covenant with Abraham, that He did it for them.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the same thing with us today. We do not understand why we are the called, but thank God we are the called. It is not because we are better than anybody else.
In Romans 8, we are told:
Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son;
whom He predestinated, He also called;
whom He called, He also justified;
and whom He justified, He also glorified.
Now why is it, brothers and sisters, that we are the called? Whom He foreknew, He predestinated. It is not because of us; it is because of Him. He has foreknown us, not in the sense that He foreknew that we were better than anybody else, but most likely that when His grace came to us, we would accept it.
So there is nothing to boast of. Everything is from Him. Brothers and sisters, how thankful we ought to be to know that we are the called.
But do we know what we are called out from? Sometimes we do not know how deeply we are in that miry clay, and we do not realize what God has really brought us out from.
Now look at Abraham. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. Why? Because if Abraham had remained in Ur of the Chaldees, he would never have been able to fulfill his calling.
We are called according to purpose. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Abraham, when he was called, had to come out of Ur of the Chaldees because, if he did not come out, he would never be able to fulfill his calling. That purpose would never be fulfilled.
Ur of the Chaldees, we know, was a city full of idols. It has been excavated, and they found Ur of the Chaldees to be a city full of idols. Even according to Jewish tradition, Abraham’s father, Terah, was an idol-maker. Abraham came from an idol-worshiping family.
He had to be called out of that situation in order to be wholly for God—out of Ur of the Chaldees and out of his kindred, because all these kindred were idol worshipers. If he should stay with them, he would never be able to fulfill God’s purpose for his life.
Is this not true with us too? Ur of the Chaldees represents what the world is. This world is a perverse, rebellious, idolatrous world, and God has to call us out of it in order to fulfill His purpose.
Now, Abraham obeyed God, but if you read Genesis, you find that he only half obeyed God in the beginning. He came out of Ur of the Chaldees, but he stopped in Haran.
If you really look at the map, you will find Haran is just in the middle of Canaan and Ur of the Chaldees. He went halfway. Not only that, but the Lord said, “Leave your kindred,” and you find that his father came out with him, and his nephew Lot came out with him.
So his obedience was not absolute. It was a kind of compromise. It was a halfway step. It was an either-or. In other words, if you stay in Haran, you can easily go back to Ur, or you can go forward to Canaan. You are on the fence.
That is the reason why God did not speak to him during all those years that he stayed in Haran, until God, by His grace, took his father away. Then God spoke to him again and gave him the same command:
Go out from thy country,
and from thy kindred,
and from thy father’s house.
When the calling comes, you cannot be halfway. You cannot be either-or. If you do that, you get stuck. If, by the mercy of God, He appears to you again, you will find that He says to you the very same thing. There is nothing new, because you have not obeyed in the first place.
So here you find Abraham was called out of Haran again. You see, this coming out is a continuous thing. Do not think that we are called out once and for all. Continuously, throughout the life of Abraham, God was calling him out, out, out, and out.
After he arrived in Canaan, you find God had to call him out of Lot. Lot followed Abraham and was blessed by God, but he did not have a vision. He did not have God’s calling. He did not know God’s word. It was all secondhand; it was tradition; it was simply following.
Lot did not have vision at all. Because of this, he represents a carnal man, a carnal Christian. Lot was a righteous man, but his righteousness could not even save his family. Why? Because he did not have a vision. His was secondhand.
For Abraham to go all the way in fulfilling God’s calling, he had to be separated from that which was carnal in order to be that which was spiritual. Again, you find God called him out of Lot.
Later on, you find that God called him out of Ishmael. In other words, carnality is not only in relationships; it is also in our own flesh. We need to be delivered from carnal relationships, but we also need to be delivered from our own flesh.
God had to call Abraham out of Ishmael. It was a painful thing. It was very difficult for Abraham, but he had to lose his soul-life in order to gain it for eternity.
But that is not all. You find that God had to call him out of Isaac. Isaac was given to him by God, and all God’s promises were in that seed, in Isaac. But God said, “Give Isaac to Me.”
Abraham loved Isaac so much. It was God’s gift, of course; there is no doubt about that. But you find that he was so attached to Isaac, and that would be a challenge to his love for God.
So God said, “Give Me Isaac. You have to be delivered out, called out, of Isaac in order to be wholly, completely for God.” When Abraham offered Isaac on Moriah, God said, “Now I know that thou hast not withheld anything from Me.”
Brothers and sisters, that is what God is calling us out from.
Have we been called? Thank God, we have. God has called us out of sins. Once we were dead in sins and transgressions, and God called us out of our sins.
Christ came into this world to seek and to save the lost. We were the lost, and He came and died for us on Calvary’s cross. By His blood, He washes our sins away. He has called us out of our sins.
He is Jesus, who saves His people from their sins. Thank God for that. We know that our sins are forgiven.
But He calls us not only out of our sins; He calls us out of this world, this world system. This world is a system. Satan has organized this world into a system, and he is the prince of this world. In other words, he is trying to use the world for his own purpose.
When we are saved, we are actually being called out of this world. It is not just a matter of having our sins forgiven; it is more than that.
You remember on the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up and gave that message? The people who heard it were pricked in their hearts, and they asked, “What shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent ye, and be baptized.”
Later on, Peter used many words to exhort them, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” In other words, the calling of the gospel is more than calling us out of our sins. The gospel calls us out of this whole world system.
Be saved from this evil generation, this evil world.
This is what baptism is. One meaning of baptism is that it is an act of faith on our part, declaring that we are out of this world and are now in Christ.
It is just like the children of Israel. God saved them in Egypt by the Paschal Lamb, by the blood on the door. They were saved from death, but God delivered them out of Egypt by crossing the Red Sea.
After they crossed the Red Sea, the world was behind them. They were delivered out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and the Red Sea is a type of our believers’ baptism. That is the reason why we need to be baptized.
When we step into the water and come out on the other side, the world is behind us. We are out of this world system. We are in the world, but we are not of the world.
This is what our Lord Jesus prayed in John 17:
Father, Thou hast given them to Me out of the world.
They are in the world, but they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
Brothers and sisters, do we understand that we are called out of this world? We do not belong. We belong to another world.
Thank God, we are not only called out of the world, but we are called out of the power of sin. That is Romans 6.
In Romans 6, we are told that our old man was crucified with Christ, that this body of sin might be done away, that we are no longer in bondage to sin.
To have our sins forgiven is one thing; that is by the blood of the cross of Christ. But to be delivered from the power of sin is another thing. Sin is a power that dwells in us, reigns in the old man.
But thank God, when Christ died on the cross, He died not only as our substitute; He died also as our representative. He not only died for us; He died as us.
So when He died, we in Him—the old man—were crucified with Him. Because of this, we are delivered from the power of sin.
Do we know that God has called us out of the power of sin? Are we still struggling with sin as a power, or have we come to see our co-death with Christ and co-resurrection with Christ?
Knowing that our old man was crucified, we owe nothing to sin.
We are called out not only from sin—that is Romans 6—we are called out of our flesh.
In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
Do we realize that we are called out of flesh, brothers and sisters? Unfortunately, if we do not know our flesh, then we are still there. He has called us out, but are we out?
Do we know, like Paul, to come to the place where we see that in us, that is, in our flesh, there is no good thing? Have we given up hope in ourselves and cast ourselves completely upon Him? Thank God through Jesus Christ. Have we come to that point yet?
That is part of our calling out. We are not only called out of our sins and out of our flesh; we are also called out of ourselves.
There is a difference between self and flesh. Flesh speaks more of the works of the flesh. It is the self-life that makes all the decisions. It is the self-life within us.
But thank God, we need to be delivered from this self-life, and Christ’s life will come and fill our soul. He will use our faculties to manifest Himself. We are called out of ourselves.
Of course, we are called out of death into life. This passage from death into life is not only from eternal death into eternal life, but we find that daily we are coming out of death into the resurrection life of our Lord Jesus.
We are called to know the resurrection life of our Lord Jesus. We are called out of the power of darkness. He has translated us out of the power of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Brothers and sisters, this calling out involves so much. As a matter of fact, we are still in the process of being called out. Do not think that our calling is over. It is not over.
You find that He is always calling us out—out and out—out of everything that is not God, out of everything that is not Christ. He is calling us to come out.
But thank God, He is not just calling us out. He is calling us into.
Think of Abraham. Abraham was called out, but he was called out in order to be called into. God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees in order to get him into the promised land.
Strangely, God gave him that promise, but as a matter of fact, throughout his life Abraham never inherited it. In that promised land, God said, “Walk north and south and east and west. Wherever your eye sees is yours.”
God gave that promised land to Abraham, but throughout his life Abraham never owned a lot but one. He bought it for burial. That is all he got.
Now, how do you explain that? If you read the New Testament, you come to understand it.
In Hebrews 11, it says Abraham, by faith, obeyed God, and by faith sojourned in the land that was promised to him. If he had been thinking of his old country, he could have gone back. But Abraham was looking for a better country, a city with foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God Himself.
In other words, what was God calling Abraham into? Not just into Canaan land. This was only a symbol. God was calling Abraham into the New Jerusalem.
Abraham saw that city. He had that vision. He saw the city, the New Jerusalem. He saw the city with foundations. Because of that, brothers and sisters, by faith he sojourned in the promised land. He knew that was what he was called into.
One day you will find Abraham in that New Jerusalem.
God promised Abraham a seed. Now, was that seed Isaac? No, no. Abraham saw the Seed in Isaac.
In John, our Lord Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.” Think of that. They said, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?” Actually, our Lord Jesus was not fifty; He was in His thirties.
But Abraham did see Christ. It is faith. Even when God promised him the seed, he could see Christ. He could see the days of Christ.
He could see that the seed was as the sand on the seashore and as the stars in heaven. In other words, you find not only the earthly seed but also the heavenly seed. Abraham saw that.
Now, what faith that is, and what a calling that is. No wonder when he saw the day of Christ, he rejoiced. He already saw the end.
Brothers and sisters, that is what we are called into. It is not a small thing.
When we think of what we are called into, we are called into righteousness. Yes, whom He has called, He has justified.
We had no righteousness of our own, but thank God, we are not only called out of our sins; we are called into righteousness. Why? Because we are clothed with Christ, our righteousness.
Today, every one of us is clothed with Christ—Christ as our righteousness. It is with that clothing that we are able to stand before God. This is where our standing is.
It does not depend on us—whether today we live well or we live a little poorly. It does not depend on how we feel today. Our standing before God is Christ. He is our righteousness.
Every time we stand before God, we are clothed with Christ. God sees Christ and does not see us. Therefore, we are justified, as if we had never sinned. We are always accepted in the Beloved.
We are called into righteousness. What a privilege that is, if we really understand it.
Sometimes, when you have had a bad day, you find it very difficult to get close to God because you have had a bad day. But it really does not matter. When you come to God, you are clothed with Christ. It is not on your own; it is in Christ, and He never changes.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He gives us the access, the boldness, to come to God.
We are called into light.
In 1 Peter, it says that we are a chosen race, and God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, that we may declare the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Brothers and sisters, think of that. Once we were in darkness. Not only in darkness, but we were sons of night, sons of darkness. There was no light in us. We were groping in the dark.
But thank God, He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Today we are sons of day; we are sons of light. We have the light of life in us.
That light of life shines upon our steps, so that we can walk daily in the light, as God is in the light. We can have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sins. That is a marvelous way to live.
Oftentimes, we find God’s people puzzled. They do not know what God’s will is. “Should I do this? Should I not do that? What should I do?” It is as if God’s will were so difficult to know.
But if you understand that He has already called you into the light, the light is within you. The life in you is the light of life.
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
You have the light within you. If only you can see the light, you know where to go; you know how to walk. God has made provision for you to walk in His way.
Of course, we are called out of death into life. The life that is within us is the life of God’s beloved Son. This life is eternal life. This life is God’s life.
More than that, this life has been proven on earth in the thirty-three years of the life of our Lord Jesus. It is a victorious life, a glorious life, and this life is ours. We are called into this life.
We ought to know more and more what this life is. Brothers and sisters, one of the greatest difficulties is that God’s people do not know much about life.
We know about death, but we know very little about life—what life really is. We know very little about the life out of death, resurrection life.
This is something that God calls us into: into life, knowing what life is. Knowing life is knowing God.
Knowing God is not a matter of mental knowledge. Knowing God is a matter of life experience. In life, you know Who He is and what He is. We are called into life.
We are called to be the children of God.
In 1 John, it says:
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.
As His children, we have all the rights of His children—the right to be before Him. What a privilege that is.
But more than that, brothers and sisters, we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son. That is 1 Corinthians 1:9. We are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Sometimes Paul puzzles us. When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians, he addressed them as those “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.”
When translators translated the Bible from Greek into English, many versions rendered it “called to be saints.” But the original is “called saints.” So they tried to translate it, “called to be saints.”
Now, do you know the difference? “Called to be saints” means that they are called and, if they work hard, one day they may be canonized. But “called saints” means they are saints by calling.
Strangely, you find that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, “You are called saints.” Now certainly they were not very saintly, but that does not change the call. It does not change the fact.
Brothers and sisters, do we realize that we are called saints? We are saints by calling. This is what we are. Because we are what we are, we should be what we are. You see, not the other way around.
That is the mystery of salvation. You are; therefore, you become. Not that you become, and then you are.
We are saints by calling. Unfortunately, the Corinthian believers did not understand their calling. Paul, in verse 9, said, “Do you not know that you are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?” That is your calling.
They were called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means that they were to share with Christ all that He is. Now that is the whole calling.
Of course, the Corinthian believers fell far short of their calling. Paul tried to remind them that they were called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, do we know that Christ has called us into His fellowship? We have joined the club. You do not need to pay a fee, but even though you do not need to pay a fee, not everybody can get in. Only those whom He has called.
We are called into the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe: the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
The apostles were in that fellowship. The Apostle John, in 1 John, said:
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
That is the fellowship, and we are all in that fellowship. The Father shares the Son with us, and the Son shares everything that He has with us, and we become part of Him. That is our calling.
Now, if you know your calling, will you not despise the world? Will you not try to keep yourself pure for God and not be defiled by all these dirty things? You are called into such a glorious fellowship.
Then, of course, if you read Ephesians, we are called to be the body of Christ. Our calling is more than just a personal, individual thing. Our calling is corporate.
We are called to be the body of Christ, and we are members one of another. To be the body of Christ simply means that we are to contain His riches and express, manifest, His glory. Now that is the body.
We are called according to God’s purpose—the eternal purpose of God. Now, what is the eternal purpose of God? The eternal purpose of God is that His Son may have the preeminence over all things.
The eternal purpose of God is that His Son may have a bride to share with Him in His life and glory. We are called according to that purpose.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember: we are called to something tremendous. It is not a small thing.
Unfortunately, God’s people do not know their calling. Thank God we are the called. Whether you know your calling or not, it does not change what God has done. He has called us.
We are the called, but we need to know our calling. May the Lord open our eyes to see the tremendous calling that we are called into.
Finally, if you read the New Testament, you find in the Gospels that our Lord Jesus calls. He said:
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
First, you find that we are called to Him: “Come to Me.” Then you find that you are called, “Come and follow Me.”
We are not only to come and receive the rest that He has given us. He has called us to be His disciples, to be learners—to learn of Him, not merely about Him, but to learn of Him.
We are to be yoked with Him. He says, “Come and yoke with Me. Look at Me and learn of Me, that My character may become your character.” This is what we are called into in the Gospels.
When you come to the book of Acts, you find that we are called to be the body of Christ. There the disciples, the believers, are His body.
As recorded in Luke, Jesus began to do and teach. Now He continues to do and to speak in a new, corporate body in the book of Acts. So here you find that we are called to be that body.
Brothers and sisters, think of that. That is what the church is. The church is to be His body. Our Lord is in heaven, but He can still speak and still do work through His church, through His body. That is what we are called to be today: His body.
If you read the whole New Testament, every book of the New Testament, you find that you are called into something.
Brothers and sisters, in the whole New Testament, you find that we are called into something of God. That is our calling.
Now, since we are the called, do you think we should walk worthily of our calling?
Dear Heavenly Father, open our eyes to see what mercy, what love, Thou hast bestowed upon us. We who are the chief of sinners, and yet Thou hast called us by glory and virtue, by grace and purpose.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee. We have not volunteered, but Thou hast called us. We are Thine; we are the called.
Father, we just pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see what a glorious, high calling Thou hast called us into. Lord, that we may, by Thy grace, be worthy of Thy calling. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.