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.
Now, lastly, what are the true and legitimate TENDENCIES of right conceptions concerning the doctrine of election? First, I will tell you what the doctrine of election will make saints do under the blessing of God. And secondly what it will do for sinners if God blesses it to them.
First, I think election, to a saint, is one of the most stripping doctrines in all the world—to take away all trust in the flesh or all reliance upon anything except Jesus Christ. How often do we wrap ourselves up in our own righteousness and array ourselves with the false pearls and gems of our own works and doings? We begin to say, “Now I shall be saved, because I have this and that evidence.” Instead of that, it is naked faith that saves, that faith and that alone unites to the Lamb irrespective of works, although it is productive of them.
How often do we lean on some work, other than that of our own Beloved, and trust in some might, other than that which comes from on High? Now if we would have this might taken from us, we must consider election. Pause, my soul, and consider this. God loved you before you had a being. He loved you when you were dead in trespasses and sins and sent His Son to die for you. He purchased you with His precious blood ere you could lisp His name. Can you then be proud?
I know nothing, nothing again, that is more humbling for us than this doctrine of election. I have sometimes fallen prostrate before it, when endeavoring to understand it. I have stretched my wings and eagle-like, I have soared towards the sun. Steady has been my eye and true my wing for a season, but when I came near it and the one thought possessed me—“God has from the beginning chosen you unto salvation,” I was lost in its luster, I was staggered with the mighty thought, and from the dizzy elevation down came my soul, prostrate and broken, saying, “Lord, I am nothing, I am less than nothing. Why me? Why me?”
Friends, if you want to be humbled, study election, for it will make you humble under the influence of God’s Spirit. He who is proud of his election is not elect, and he who is humbled under a sense of it, may believe that he is. He has every reason to believe that he is, for it is one of the most blessed effects of election that it helps us to humble ourselves before God.
Election in the Christian should make him very fearless and very bold. No man will be so bold as he who believes that he is elect of God. What cares he for man if he is chosen of his Maker? What will he care for the pitiful chirpings of some tiny sparrows when he knows that he is an eagle of a royal race? Will he care when the beggar points at him, when the blood royal of heaven runs in his veins? Will he fear if all the world stand against him? If earth is all in arms abroad, he dwells in perfect peace, for he is in the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High, in the great pavilion of the Almighty. “I am God’s,” he says, “I am distinct from other men. They are of an inferior race.
Am I not noble? Am I not one of the aristocrats of heaven? Is not my name written in God’s Book?” Does he care for the world? Nay, like the lion that cares not for the barking of the dog. He smiles at all his enemies and when they come too near him, he moves himself and dashes them to pieces. What cares he for them? He walks about them like a colossus, while little men walk under him and understand him not. His brow is made of iron, his heart is of flint—what does he care for man? Nay, if one universal hiss came up from the wide world, he would smile at it, for he would say, “He that has made his refuge God, Shall find a most secure abode.”
I am one of His elect. I am chosen of God and precious, and though the world cast me out, I fear not. Ah! you time-serving professors, some of you will bend like the willows. There are few oaken-Christians nowadays, that can stand the storm and I will tell you the reason. It is because you do not believe yourselves to be elect. The man who knows he is elect will be too proud to sin, he will not humble himself to commit the acts of common people.
The believer in this truth will say, “I compromise my principles? I change my doctrines? I lay aside my views? I hide what I believe to be true? No. Since I know I am one of God’s elect, in the very teeth of all men I shall speak God’s truth, whatever man may say.” Nothing makes a man so truly bold as to feel that he is God’s elect. He shall not quiver, he shall not shake, who knows that God has chosen him.
Moreover, election will make us holy. Nothing under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit can make a Christian more holy than the thought that he is chosen. “Shall I sin,” he says, “after God has chosen me? Shall I transgress after such love? Shall I go astray after so much loving kindness and tender mercy? Nay, my God, since You have chosen me, I will love You. I will live to You “Since You, the everlasting God, My Father have become.” I will give myself to You to be Yours forever, by election and by redemption, casting myself on You and solemnly consecrating myself to Your service.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 