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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/allan-christopherson/chosen-controlled-called/
John, chapter 20, reading at verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
When he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. And then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. And here's my phrase, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Because we have been called into this marvelous kingdom that we have been vividly reminded of, I couldn't help but ponder the very fact of how I am going to be sent into this kingdom. We have been linked with unsearchable riches, as hopefully we are convinced of.
And as we wait his return, as we've been reminded, as we wait his return, there is some way in which I can occupy myself in view of going into this kingdom to enjoy exactly all that God has for me through his only begotten Son.
Mr. the late William Wark said something 40 years ago, I never forgot it, that the greatness to God is likeness to Christ. And because greatness to God is the way in which greatness is totally opposite as far as this world is concerned, the thought in this world as far as being great is concerned, it's always pushing yourself forward, push your way up, and regardless of how you do it, just get to the top, and if you have to step on somebody while you get there, then that's absolutely, you've got the green light to do that.
But I couldn't help but notice this sentence here just some time ago, that if I want to be great for God, if there's going to be enjoying the kingdom, as we've been reminded, if I'm going to enjoy this kingdom and live in the enjoyment of it, then there is a certain pattern that he has for me, that he has for you, to enjoy, to be able to be holy as he is holy.
Now because we have been chosen, because we have been chosen, because we have been linked with one, then there is a way in which he sends me out, because he has been sent out. I find it very, very thrilling that because he has been sent out, you mean to tell me, dear brethren and sisters, I have been sent out?
No, I'm not talking about the gospel work, I'm just talking about Christianity, I'm just talking about how living our life for God and living our life as far in this world is concerned, you mean I journey, I gather from John chapter 20 that he has been sent out the same way or some very likeness that I have been sent?
I should say that, reverse that, that I have been sent, you have been sent in the same way that he has been sent. Now I want to notice that there are three ways in which I can be like him, in the fact that he has been sent, then I have been sent something similar in the same way.
Number one, I have been chosen, well, my three points are simply this, that I'm chosen to be a servant, that's very, very simple, you cannot help but see that as you read the New Testament. If I have chosen to be a servant, then there is controlled by the Spirit, and if I have been called into the great kingdom, then there is not only the controlling of the Spirit by the Spirit, then there is being called to be a sufferer.
Now just for a second about called, chosen to be a servant, isn't it remarkable, dear brethren, that the Mark's gospel, rather the Matthew's gospel, is the gospel of the King, and when I look into the Matthew's gospel, I see the kingship, I see the kingdom, and I see the King, we belong to the King, but yet in Matthew's gospel, I can simply see that in chapter 12, he says, as the God of heaven says, behold my servant, a bond servant, a bondman, behold my servant, was the Lord Jesus a servant, oh, was he a servant, because in the same gospel of Matthew, the servant is called, and in Matthew chapter 20, I simply see that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
So dear young Christian, now, are you with me? Yes, I know you are. I just wanted to see if, so you want to be great for God, you want to really be great as far as God is concerned, well then I need to take the servant character and be a waiter and be a doer for others, because that's exactly why, that is what is linked with him as the servanthood, in view of the fact that he was, he came to minister to others.
Did you ever do anything for somebody? Did you ever do something for somebody, and you've done it for them a long time, and you never get, you never even so much as get a thank you. There was a dear family in South Dakota, and grieved us greatly.
I finally, I had an opportunity, my wife and I, I had an opportunity with his wife, and we said to her, I said, does your husband ever say thank you? And he says, he never has, and he never will. There's that servant character that the Lord Jesus manifested.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but to as many as received him. To them gave he the right, or the power to become the sons of God. He came, and he came to minister. He came to give help.
He came to touch. He came to heal. He came to resurrect. He came. He came to minister unto. He came not to be ministered unto, but he came to minister. I can't help but think, and I don't think it's been mentioned in this conference yet.
When I think of the one who came to minister, I can't help but think of John chapter 13, and he laid aside his garments. Supper being ended, and after supper he laid aside his garments, and he took a plow, and he took a basin, and he said to Peter, come here, I'm going to wash your feet.
And you're not going to wash my feet. No, no. No, Peter says, you're not going to wash my feet. And of course, you know John chapter 13. Remember the Lord Jesus taking those feet, and he took those feet, and he washed them.
And at the end of that account in John 13, as I have done unto you, you should do unto others. So there's the servant character. The servant. And so as the result of he being sent into the world as a servant, it's the measure in which I and you can be sent into the world as a servant to enjoy the kingdom, to bring others to find our Lydia, and to bring them to the Savior through the fact of being able to help.
I'm trying to do that servant with my neighbor. He doesn't appreciate it. In fact, there's some days I hope I'm home when it snows six inches. Well, I'm not going to say six feet, but six inches. So I want to help him.
I want to do something. I want to do something so that he'll stop and say to me, Al, now why are you doing this? We got three neighbors. One whole block. I live here. Kim and Sue live over here. Mike and Suzy.
No, Kim and Suzy here. Who lives over here? Mike and Sue. And Jeff over here. So I'm over one day last year, and I'm over one day, and I'm scooping Jeff's driveway. I'm hoping Jeff's looking out the window.
I really am. You talk about doing something for the wrong motive. Maybe I did it for the wrong motive. I don't know. But I'm hoping he's looking out the window because I want him to come out here, and I want him to ask him, Al, what are you doing this for?
Jeff didn't look out the window, but Mike across the street, Kim, Kim across the street came over. Kim and Suzy, they came over and said, Kim says to me, Al, you know, I want to help you. I said, I got it all taken care of, Kim.
It's all taken care of. Yeah, but Kim says, I want to work my way to heaven like you are. I guess that servanthood character backfired. There was something about it. There's something about it, dear brethren.
I wish I could live in the enjoyment of the fact of just being a servant, just being able to wait on people, and this business, this devilish, selfish, fleshly thing of always thinking that, well, I should get a thank-you note or I should get this.
The Lord Jesus didn't get any thank-you notes. The Lord Jesus came unto His own people, and His own people received Him not. I come home the other night, and I thought to myself, what would it be like to come home and your wife, knowing your wife is in the front door, is in the house, and she has no interest in seeing you?
The children have no interest in seeing you. The grandchildren don't. What in the world would that be like? The Lord Jesus knew very well how that He was hated, and if He was hated, He is saying, then we expect, we can expect to be hated also.
Isn't it strange, dear brethren? Simon Peter, Simon Peter, an apostle. I walked with a Savior. Is that how he starts his letter? No. Simon Peter, a servant. How does James, the apostle, James, the Lord's half-brother, how does he begin his epistle?
James, a relative of the Lord. James, the brother of the Lord Jesus who died. No. James, a bondservant. Paul, the apostle, doesn't speak about his apostleship until he reminds his hearers that he was a servant.
I love William McDonald's one-liner. Lord, keep me little and unknown, loved and prized by Christ alone. If I am chosen to be a servant, then my dear young man and my dear young sister, you've got to go back to the university.
You've got to go back to that working world, whatever the case might be. Then remember that as we try to go back as He was sent, let us go back not only as the servant, but controlled by the Spirit. The Lord Jesus in Luke chapter 4, in Luke chapter 4, Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led of the Spirit.
He led of the Spirit. Amazing to consider that the triune, that the Godhead was being led. The Lord Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, was being led by the Spirit. I am thinking as well that in Romans chapter 8, they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.
Isn't it amazing, brethren, that I've been saved now for many years, and yet after all of these years, I can have no more of the Spirit than what I received the moment of conversion. But, what is my difficulty, and perhaps you can relate to it, that the Spirit wants to have more of me.
Isn't it also startling that in John chapter 14, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, wait a minute, let's just stop right there. Let's stop where Jim stopped. In my Father's house are many mansions.
If you look down quickly, down to verse 23 in John 14, there is another word that is just the same word as the mansion. If the Lord Jesus says, if a man love me, he will keep my words, and the Father will love him also.
And we, we will keep the Word of God, and we'll come unto him, now get this statement, and we shall abide with him. That word abide simply means it's the mansion, it's the word menno, it's the word monay, it's the word that is the same as mansion.
So, the very mansions that he has gone to head and provided for, the Holy Spirit that dwells within you and me is a mansion. I can't say that I'm sure, I can't quite get over that. I have been thrilled with that thought for years, that regardless of where I go, you know what keeps me from going places?
You say it's afraid of being found out by the brethren. That doesn't bother me one bit, because I go places where the brethren are in full fellowship with me. But young believer, don't forget that when you go to questionable places, you are taking the Holy Spirit with you.
Your temple, your body is a carrier of divine persons. And now, young sister, if that doesn't thrill you about going into the world, about in the schools, there you are with your lovely long hair without paint and paste, and you're letting your light shine, and you're doing what you can, and they don't appreciate you, and they never will.
There you are, controlled by the Holy Spirit. Thank God for that. Get the Holy Spirit of God within you. And because you're a carrier of the Holy Spirit, there is something that that Holy Spirit controls.
Because in Romans chapter 8, I find very simply that in Romans chapter 8, that there's my mind, there's my motives, and there's my members. What is my mind and motives and members about? It's to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.
It would be a good idea, dear younger Christian, you're ready for this, since you don't have anything to do in college. Right, Anthony? It would be a good idea if you'd read Romans, the book of Romans, once a month.
I practiced it for quite a while, and I did it for once a week, until I somehow slipped up and I fell into a rut again. You can read the book of Romans in one hour and ten minutes, and that's not even speed reading.
So he has no difficulty with reading the book of Romans once a month. If you read the book of Romans once a month, you would find the doctrines of the gospel. There would be something about your mind, something about your mind that would be wider.
It would be broadened out. You find out the absolutely depravity of man. But then you come into beautiful subjects, like justification, sanctification, glorification. And because of all those subjects, you get an understanding, you get a background, you get a basis of what the gospel really is and the truth of God.
Read Romans, young believer. In fact, when I come to the book of Romans, chapter 6, chapter 7, and chapter 8, I find there's a couple of words in there. I find that there's yield. I find that there's a reckon.
I find that there's a know. Now, let's get back to something a little more practical. When I come to Romans chapter 8, we discover that my mind, that my mind is something that has to be controlled. I cannot let my mind wander and go into the paths and go into the slime pits of this ungodly, Christless world.
Can't do it. But my mind has to be controlled. And I suppose we can say this to every, to all of us, regardless of whether we have been saved how many years. My brother Lavery told me a long time ago, probably 40 years ago, he says, remember Al, that when you minister God's people, there's somebody in the audience that knows more about your subject than you do.
I never forgot that. So I'm convinced there's somebody in my audience that knows more about this than what I know about. But I do know this, that if I don't put this book into my mind every day, I'm in deep trouble.
So young believer, you just started college, or you're in your second year, or you're in your third year, or you're just starting high school, or junior high, go into that grade and come out a better person than you were when you went in.
How are you going to do that? You're going to do that by pouring yourself over on your mind. You see, you do what is in your mind. You are, how did Leonard used to put that? You are what you think you are.
And I stepped into a home not too long ago, and there they are. They got this little, what do you call them? They got these little handles, and they're just beeping these little things, and they're looking at the screen, and one car is crashing into the other one, and another car is crashing into this one, and they make it zigzag, and so on.
And finally I got so involved in it, it was getting into my system. And I thought, give me the pedals, I can miss those cars. And get so involved in that stuff, and your mind is to the point where it's saturated with that stuff.
We have TV, we got the internet, we got the computers, we got Facebook, we got email, and all the advertisements in the newspapers, and the catalogs, and the billboards, and the whole gamut as far as the press system is concerned.
Young men, when are you going to put the Word of God in your mind? Young ladies, I guess the ladies are over here. I can't see that well, but I guess they are. When are you going to put the Word of God in your mind?
I try to teach my two girls a couple of Greek things. One of the things I try to teach them, I can, they're not here today, so I can tell you. One of the things I try to teach them is the N in Luke chapter 10 is the kataluma.
And I said, girls, some man's going to want to come and take your hand someday. So instead of talking about all this other stuff, instead of talking about all that what is in this world, and this, and that, and the other thing, just ask him if he knows what the Greek word for kataluma, or what the Greek word for N is in Luke chapter 10.
When am I going to get the Word into my mind? Because someday you're going to be an old man like I am. And then the things don't work. There's some gears up here that's not clicking all the time. Is he talking about his mind or my mind?
Let's see, where was I? This book that we have, I can put this book into my mind. I can commune upon His Word. I've had a little time this summer just to meditate, just to think about it, just to muse upon it.
It's a marvelous thing. And I wish I could meditate more, to muse upon the mind, to puse upon this book, to get it into your mind. Because it is like that computer you've got. You can only get out of what you put in it.
So we put our book into our heads, put it into our minds. We commune with the Lord and seek to serve. Now there's a motives in Romans chapter 8, and I've got five minutes. There's a motives in chapter 8.
Young believer, watch your motives. I have a letter from Leonard de Boer that I've never thrown away. And I'm not ever going to throw it away. He wrote me one time, and he says, I'll do the best you can, stay at his feet, and keep the motives right.
And I thought, how profound. Keep the motives. Motives as far as motivated by the Holy Spirit. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. So my mind must be controlled. The motives must be controlled.
And then there's the members of Romans chapter 8. Through the Spirit, we do fortify the members, the deeds of the body. And of course, when we mortify them, ye shall live. Now, what is the result? All right, let's just say, let's just say now you're going back into the world.
And tomorrow is what? Monday? Tomorrow is Monday. And you're going back into the world. And you've been reminded of great things as far as this conference is concerned. But also, try not to forget that my mind must be controlled.
My motives must be controlled. And my members must be controlled. What's the result? So let's just say God gives you grace to do that. And in wondrous grace, he gives you help. Well, look at Galatians chapter 5.
And from Galatians chapter 5, there's going to be the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. Now, is it worth it, brethren? Is it worth it? It sure is. Controlled by the Holy Spirit. There was a man one day in Acts chapter 8.
He was led out into the wilderness. And there he was led, led from a place of, a place of gospel prosperity, led to a man, the Ethiopian eunuch. And of course, Philip had the great joy of seeing that man saved.
Let's just say that he would have said, no, I don't want to go. What would Moses have done, brethren? What would Moses have, what would have happened to Moses? He saw the burning bush. And as he looked upon that burning bush, he would look at his watch.
He would think of the work that he needs to do. No, I haven't got time right now. I'll come back at some other time. I don't have time. And he would have missed the burning bush. And all the teaching that goes with that burning bush, to be led by the Spirit.
It comes to the point where I personally, I even like to buy my cars and buy my clothes and buy the little things of life, led by the Holy Spirit. If I see a brand new suit, and I shouldn't even tell you this because hopefully I never do this, but I see a brand new suit and I'm in need of a suit and it's a $500 suit and it's on sale on Sunday afternoon for $250.
So far, thus far, I've been able to say, I'll see if it's on sale till Monday. I don't need to do things on the Lord's day. That could be done on a Monday. Want to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. I bought a car one time.
Just follow this. I bought a car one time and I called him on Friday and the phone wouldn't answer. I called him on Saturday and the phone still wouldn't answer. I went around and I looked at it and I knocked at the door and nobody to home.
I called him Monday morning. I said, I've been calling all weekend to get this. That's when the girls were little. I've been calling all weekend about this automobile. I said, I would like to take a look at it.
And I asked him to pray. He told me the price and I, he told me what it was, what a while I saw it. And he says, well, my phone has been out. The repairman, it was supposed to come and he didn't come.
And I told him over the phone, I'll take your car. Conscience. We've been hearing about conscience. No, we've been hearing about circumstances. We've been hearing about a commandment and we can go by our conscience.
Acts chapter 9, Ananias was led to the city. Ananias was not only led to the city, but he was led to the city and called the name of the city. He was told what the man is going to do. Do I look for things in my life that I'll be led?
Young people are here and you want to have a partner in life. I got a recipe at all. And I was telling one man about the recipe and he says, I've heard that before. The first to that recipe, the first key to that recipe is to pray.
So start praying. Ask the Lord to give you a partner. Acts chapter 10, Peter was to the house of Cornelius and so on, controlled by the spirit. Isn't it amazing, brethren? I just can't get over that, that as the Lord Jesus was sent into the world in the same way, I can be sent, controlled by the Holy Spirit.
My last point, that I was called to be a sufferer. For unto you is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer. They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
There was something about Moses, wasn't there? Moses, he chose. Why did he choose? He chose to suffer. He chose to, he forsook Egypt's pleasure and he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God.
He chose to suffer. I don't suppose many of us are suffering very much nowadays. I was probably the first generation and the second generation maybe, but when I come down, I think I'm the fourth generation.
I'm not suffering very much. I'm not suffering. All I'm suffering is maybe a little sneer, a little no, roughly sometimes when invitations are given out. We aren't suffering. Would the God that we knew what it was, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.
Oh, rather, Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. Now, did he suffer? Now, dear Christian, did he suffer? He sure did. Because he suffered, because he was hated, you and I are going to be hated.
And so as a result of us being hated and taking the place of being hated in this world, we can have a likeness to the person of the Lord Jesus. What is greatness to Christ? Greatness to Christ. What is greatness to God, rather?
Likeness to Christ. Can I be in the rest of my life knowing what it is, as my Father hath sent me? Even so, send I you.