13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 (ESV)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.
And now, briefly, let me say that election is ABSOLUTE, that is, it does not depend upon what we are. The text says, “God has from the beginning chosen us unto salvation.” But our opponents say that God chooses people because they are good, that He chooses them on account of sundry works which they have done. Now, we ask in reply to this, what works are those on account of which God elects His people? Are they what we commonly call “works of law”? works of obedience which the creature can render? If so, we reply to you—If men cannot be justified by the works of the law, it seems to us pretty clear that they cannot be elected by the works of the law. If they cannot be justified by their good deeds, they cannot be saved by them. Then the decree of election could not have been formed upon good works.
“But,” say others, “God elected them on the foresight of their faith.” Now God gives faith, therefore He could not have elected them on account of faith, which He foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street and I determine to give one of them a shilling—but will anyone say that I determined to give that one a shilling, that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would, have it? That would be talking nonsense. In like manner, to say that God elected men because He foresaw, they would have faith, which is salvation in the germ, would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment. Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from Him. Therefore, it cannot have caused Him to elect men, because it is His gift.
Election, we are sure, is absolute and altogether apart from the virtues which the saints have afterwards. What if a saint should be as holy and devout as Paul? What if he should be as bold as Peter or as loving as John? Yet he could claim nothing from his Maker. I never knew a saint, yet, of any denomination, who thought that God saved him because He foresaw that he would have these virtues and merits. Now, my brethren, the best jewels that the saint ever wears, if they be jewels of our own fashioning, are not of the first water. There is something of earth mixed with them. The highest grace we ever possess has something of earthliness about it. We feel this when we are most refined, when we are most sanctified, and our language must always be “I the chief of sinners am; Jesus died for me.”
Our only hope, our only plea, still hangs on grace as exhibited in the person of Jesus Christ. And I am sure we must utterly reject and disregard all thought that our graces, which are gifts of our Lord, which are His right-hand planting, could have ever caused His love. And we ever must sing “What was there in us that could merit esteem or give the Creator delight? It was even so, Father, we always must sing, because it seemed good in Your sight” “He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.” He saves because He will save. And if you ask me why He saves me, I can only say, because He would do it.
Is there anything in me that should recommend me to God? No. I lay aside everything. I had nothing to recommend me. When God saved me, I was the most abject, lost, and ruined of the race. I lay before Him as an infant in my blood. Verily, I had no power to help myself. O how wretched did I feel and know myself to be! If you had something to recommend you to God, I never had. I will be content to be saved by grace, unalloyed, pure grace. I can boast of no merits. If you can do so, I cannot. I must sing “Free grace alone from the first to the last Has won my affection and held my soul fast.”
More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 