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, lastly, to the ungodly. What says election to you? First, you ungodly ones, I will excuse you for a moment. There are many of you who do not like election and I cannot blame you for it, for I have heard those preach election, who have sat down and said, “I have not one word to say to the sinner.” Now, I say you ought to dislike such preaching as that, and I do not blame you for it. But I say, take courage, take hope, O you sinner, that there is election.
So far from dispiriting and discouraging you, it is a very hopeful and joyous thing that there is an election. What if I told you perhaps none can be saved, none are ordained to eternal life? Would you not tremble and fold your hands in hopelessness and say, “Then how can I be saved, since none are elect?” But I say there is a multitude of elect, beyond all counting—a host that no mortal can number.
Therefore, take heart, you poor sinner! Cast away your despondency—may you not be elect as well as any other? for there is chosen an innumerable host. There is joy and comfort for you! Then, not only take heart, but go and try the Master. Remember, if you were not elect, you would lose nothing by it. What did the four lepers say? “Let us fall unto the host of the Syrians, for if we stay here, we must die, and if we go to them, we can but die.” O sinner! Come to the throne of electing mercy.
You may die where you are. Go to God, and even supposing He should spurn you, suppose His uplifted hand should drive you away—a thing impossible—yet you will not lose anything. You will not be more damned for that. Besides, supposing you are damned, you would have the satisfaction at least of being able to lift up your eyes in hell and say, “God, I asked mercy of You and You would not grant it. I sought it, but You did refuse it.” That you never shall say, O sinner! If you go to Him and ask Him, you shall receive, for He never has spurned one yet! Is not that hope for you?
What though there is an allotted number, yet it is true that all who seek belong to that number. Go you and seek, and if you should be the first one to go to hell, tell the devils that you did perish thus—tell the demons that you are a castaway, after having come as a guilty sinner to Jesus. I tell you it would disgrace the Eternal—with reverence to His name—and He would not allow such a thing. He is jealous of His honor and He could not allow a sinner to say that. But ah, poor soul! Do not think thus, that you can lose anything by coming.
There is yet one more thought—do you love the thought of election this morning? Are you willing to admit its justice? Do you say, “I feel that I am lost. I deserve it and if my brother is saved, I cannot murmur. If God destroys me, I deserve it, but if He saves the person sitting beside me, He has a right to do what He will with His own, and I have lost nothing by it.” Can you say that honestly from your heart?
If so, then the doctrine of election has had its right effect on your spirit, and you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. You are brought where you ought to be, where the Spirit wants you to be, and being so this morning, depart in peace. God has forgiven your sins. You would not feel that if you were not pardoned, you would not feel that if the Spirit of God were not working in you. Rejoice, then, in this. Let your hope rest on the cross of Christ. Think not on election, but on Christ Jesus. Rest on Jesus—Jesus first, midst, and without end.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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