His Word Today

¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits 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. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13–15 (ESV)

On the basis of God’s unconditional election of sinners unto salvation, which the Apostle Paul stated in vs. 13-14, what is to be the believer’s response?  Paul sets for the purpose and response for the believer in vs. 15 of today’s text. Believers in Christ are to stand firm in biblical doctrine. Our trust in, commitment to, dependence upon and worship of the Lord must be grounded in biblical truth (Psalm 1; 19; 119; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

“Regrettably, many believers today regard Christian doctrine as merely theoretical, having no practical value. For Paul and the other Apostles, however, theology was immensely practical. Just consider 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12. Why does Paul remind us of various doctrines regarding what must happen before Christ returns? Because he does not want us to be “shaken in mind or alarmed” (v. 2). He teaches doctrine so that readers will enjoy the practical benefits of emotional stability and confidence in Christ,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

So then, brothers (οὖν ἄρα; oun ara) can be translated “therefore.” This phrase indicates a conclusion, consequence or result. In other words, what is the consequential or resulting behavior of God’s people to His unconditional election of sinners unto salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone? The word brothers (ἀδελφοί; adelphoi) in the context refers to fellow believers in Christ or the church. (2 Thess. 1:1).

Believers in Christ are to stand firm and hold. To stand firm (στήκετε; stekete) is a present, active, imperative, plural verb. To stand firm is to be done presently, actively, obediently and collectively by the believing community. It means to have determination and steadfastness. To hold (κρατεῖτε; krateite) is also a present, active, imperative, plural verb. It means to seize and take possession. In what is the church to stand firm and hold?

To the traditions you were taught by us. Traditions (παραδόσεις; paradoseis) refers to doctrine or teachings handed down from one generation to the next generation. In this context, the traditions were the doctrines Paul, Silas and Timothy taught (ἐδιδάχθητε; edidachthete) and instructed the Thessalonian believers. This was done either by their spoken word (Acts 17:1-9) or by their first and second letter (I Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1).

John Calvin writes, “Some restrict this to precepts of external polity; but this does not please me, for he points out the manner of standing firm. Now, to be furnished with invincible strength is a much higher thing than external discipline. Hence, in my opinion, he includes all doctrine under this term, as though he had said that they have ground on which they may stand firm, provided they persevere in sound doctrine, according as they had been instructed by him.”

“I do not deny that the term παραδόσεις is fitly applied to the ordinances which are appointed by the Churches, with a view to the promoting of peace and the maintaining of order, and I admit that it is taken in this sense when human traditions are treated of, (Matthew 15:6.) Paul, however, will be found in the next chapter making use of the term tradition, as meaning the rule that he had laid down, and the very signification of the term is general. The context, however, as I have said, requires that it be taken here to mean the whole of that doctrine in which they had been instructed. For the matter treated of is the most important of all — that their faith may remain secure in the midst of a dreadful agitation of the Church.”

“In context, the traditions to which Paul refers are found in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12, where Paul reminds his readers that what he says in writing is what he had told them face-to-face (v. 5). In other words, Paul did not tell the Thessalonians by mouth anything other than the traditions he puts into writing. There is no body of teaching that the Apostles wanted the church to have that can be found outside the Scriptures,” concludes Dr. Sproul. (See 2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Scripture reveals what sinners must believe in order to be saved and how then they must live to please God. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a God-honoring day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

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!

Our current weekly study from Scripture concerns the subject of holiness. This week’s essay begins to examine the holiness of God from Isaiah 6:1-7.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3).

To truly know God is to know His attributes, or His personal characteristics. They are those qualities which make God, God. Some of the LORD’s attributes He has chosen to share with His creation. Some of His attributes He alone possesses.  Isaiah 6:1-3 reveals one of God’s most significant attributes; holiness.

I Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44.

What does it mean when the Bible says that God is holy? As previously noted, holy, or holiness, means to be set-apart. In Scripture, holiness refers to a variety of people, places and things. However, the word holy ultimately points to God as the one who is qualitatively different or set apart from creation. Holy may also be used to describe someone or something that God has “set apart” for special purposes. In the NT holiness takes on the sense of ethical purity or freedom from sin. Holiness is God’s “otherness” and “purity”, as well as to God’s prerogative to set people and things apart for God’s own purposes.

In Isaiah 6, we see one of the most striking accounts of not only the holiness of God but also the un-holiness of man. Isaiah 6 does not apply just to the Prophet Isaiah alone, but also to sinners and believers in Christ today.

Isaiah was a prophet during the kingly reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah in the Kingdom of Judah. He ministered for over 40 years. As Isaiah 6 opens, King Uzziah died approximately in the year 740 B.C. The king died of leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). This was a direct result of disobedience before God. His death signaled the conclusion of a long period (52 years) of peace and prosperity for the nation of Judah.

Following Uzziah’s death, Isaiah encountered a theophany, or a Christophany (John 12:41), which is a visible manifestation of God. Such instances are often accompanied by earthquakes, smoke, fire and lightening (Isaiah 29:1-6; 30:27-31; Exodus 19:18-19; Psalm 18:7-15; 50:1-3; 97:1-2; Micah 1:1-4; Nahum 1:3-8; Habakkuk 3:1-15).

Isaiah 6:1 says that the prophet saw the Lord. The word Lord is the Hebrew word Adonai which literally means Sovereign One or Master. Isaiah described the Lord sitting upon a throne. This symbolically means the Lord is consistently ruling over heaven and earth in power and authority. While the human king Uzziah was dead, the eternal King of kings was very much alive and reigning. 

The prophet said the Lord was “high and lifted up.” The Lord’s throne was greatly elevated illustrating that this was the One and only Most High God. No one is higher or greater. Additionally, the “train of his robe filled the temple.” The hem or fringe of God’s glorious robe filled the temple acknowledging supreme majesty. The Lord is the central and only object of worship.

Verse 2 focuses upon the reality, the rejoicing and the resulting effect of the praise given to God by the Seraphim angels. “Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

The Hebrew word Seraphim literally means burning ones. The Seraphim are specifically named angels whose task is to worship God before His heavenly throne. We do not know how many Seraphim angels there are before God’s throne, but we do know that there were/are more than one.

Dr. R.C. Sproul explains that, “Angels appear frequently throughout the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. In fact “angelos,” the Greek word that means “angel/messenger,” occurs more frequently than the term translated as “sin” (hamartia). Yet at the same time, Scripture does not give us much detailed information about these beings. They appear at key points in redemptive history to help God’s people, but the Bible says little about their appearance and origin. Still, the information we do have is sufficient for what we need to know about angels.”

However, God does give us information regarding the appearance of the Seraphim angels. To begin with, each one of these innumerable angels have six wings. Why six? The only reason given is what the Seraphim do with each set of wings.

With two wings, the Seraphim cover their face. Why do they do this? The reason is the Seraphim have no inherent glory of their own which compares with God’s glory. Therefore, as created beings they cannot directly look upon the glory of God.

The Seraphim cover their feet. Why do they do this? The reason is the Seraphim are created beings. They recognize their lowliness before God even as they engage in divine service. This is something which would be wise for humans to keep in mind regarding their own worship and service for God.

Finally, with two wings the Seraphim fly. Why do they do this? The reason is the Seraphim serve God in their flight. Fish swim, lions roar and snakes’ slither. Angels fly! That’s what God designed them to do.

The Seraphim have an all-important task to perform. They call to one another in antiphonal praise and cry out “holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The threefold repetition indicates this attribute of God is superlative. It is unmatched, untouchable, and unparalleled. There is no greater attribute God possesses than holiness.

Holiness is the only attribute God possesses which is repeated to the third degree. God is never described as love, love, love. Neither is He mentioned as just, just, just. However, He is regarded as holy, holy, holy. This indicates a possible reference to the Trinity, but it also may mean all of God’s other attributes are shaped and influenced by His holiness. Therefore, His love is a holy love. His justice is a holy justice. And so on.

The name LORD of hosts refers to the most personal name for God: Yahweh. Yahweh, the self-existent One possesses divine control over the entire universe. He is the holy One. He is the self-existent One. He is I AM WHO I AM (Ex.3:13-14; John 8:58).

Because the LORD of hosts is holy, holy, holy, all of creation is full of His glory. The LORD is ruler over all, and His glory, truthfulness, righteousness and beauty of His character, fills creation.

To truly know God is to recognize and understand He is holy, holy, holy, and we are not. He is set apart from sin, while we belong and revel in sin. How then can sinful creatures ever hope to eternally be in the presence of this God who is holy, holy, holy? What hope then does any sinner have before the awesome holiness of God? What hope did the Prophet Isaiah have?

There is no hope in ourselves. Our only hope or confidence is in the gracious redemption by the LORD Jesus Christ. This biblical truth is illustrated in Isaiah’s response to the holiness of God and the LORD’s response to the sinful prophet.

Take the time today to meditate and consider the holiness of God.

Soli deo Gloria!

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!

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.

The other thought is—for my time flies too swiftly to enable me to dwell at length upon these points—that election produces GOOD RESULTS. “He has from the beginning chosen you unto sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” How many men mistake the doctrine of election altogether! And how my soul burns and boils at the recollection of the terrible evils that have accrued from the spoiling and the wresting of that glorious portion of God’s glorious truth! How many are there who have said to themselves, “I am elect,” and have sat down in sloth and worse than that! They have said, “I am the elect of God,” and with both hands they have done wickedness. They have swiftly run to every unclean thing, because they have said, “I am the chosen child of God, irrespective of my works, therefore I may live as I like and do what I like.”

O, beloved! Let me solemnly warn every one of you not to carry the truth too far—or rather not to turn the truth into error, for we cannot carry it too far. We may overstep the truth. We can make that which was meant to be sweet for our comfort, a terrible mixture for our destruction. I tell you there have been thousands of men who have been ruined by misunderstanding election, who have said, “God has elected me to heaven and to eternal life,” but they have forgotten that it is written, God has elected them, “through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” This is God’s election—election to sanctification and to faith.

God chooses His people to be holy and to be believers. How many of you here then are believers? How many of my congregation can put their hands upon their hearts and say, “I trust in God that I am sanctified”? Is there one of you who says, “I am elect”? —I remind that you swore last week. One of you says, “I trust I am elect,” but I jog your memory about some vicious act that you committed during the last six days.

Another of you says, “I am elect,” but I would look you in the face and say, “Elect! you are a most cursed hypocrite and that is all you are.” Others would say, “I am elect,” but I would remind them that they neglect the mercy seat and do not pray. Oh, beloved! never think you are elect unless you are holy. You may come to Christ as a sinner, but you may not come to Christ as an elect person until you can see your holiness.

Do not misconstrue what I say—do not say, “I am elect,” and yet think you can be living in sin. That is impossible. The elect of God are holy. They are not pure, they are not perfect, they are not spotless, but taking their life as a whole, they are holy persons. They are marked and distinct from others, and no man has a right to conclude himself elect except in his holiness. He may be elect and yet lying in darkness, but he has no right to believe it. No one can say it, there is no evidence of it. The man may live one day, but he is dead at present. If you are walking in the fear of God, trying to please Him, and to obey His commandments, doubt not that your name has been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundation of the world.

And lest this should be too high for you, note the other mark of election, which is faith, belief of the truth. Whoever believes God’s truth and believes on Jesus Christ, is elect. I frequently meet with poor souls who are fretting and worrying themselves about this thought, “What if I should not be elect.” “Oh, sir,” they say, “I know I put my trust in Jesus. I know I believe in His name and trust in His blood, but what if I should not be elect?”

Poor dear creature! You do not know much about the Gospel or you would never talk so, for he that believes is elect. Those who are elect, are elect unto sanctification and unto faith. And if you have faith, you are one of God’s elect. You may know it and ought to know it, for it is an absolute certainty. If you, as a sinner, look to Jesus Christ this morning and say— “Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Your cross I cling,” you are elect.

I am not afraid of election frightening poor saints or sinners. There are many divines who tell the inquirer, “Election has nothing to do with you.” That is very bad, because the poor soul is not to be silenced like that. If you could silence him so, it might be well, but he will think of it, he can’t help it. Say to him then, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are elect. If you will cast yourself on Jesus, you are elect.

I tell you the chief of sinners—this morning, I tell you in His name, if you will come to God without any works of your own, cast yourself on the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, if you will come now and trust in Him, you are elect—you were loved of God from before the foundation of the world, for you could not do that unless God had given you the power and had chosen you to do it. Now you are safe and secure if you do, but come and cast yourself on Jesus Christ, and wish to be saved and to be loved by Him.

But think not that any man will be saved without faith and without holiness. Do not conceive, my hearers, that some decree, passed in the dark ages of eternity, will save your souls, unless you believe in Christ. Do not sit down and fancy that you are to be saved without faith and holiness. That is a most abominable and accursed heresy, and has ruined thousands. Lay not election as a pillow for you to sleep on or you may be ruined. God forbid that I should be sewing pillows under armholes that you may rest comfortably in your sins.

Sinner! there is nothing in the Bible to lighten your sins, but if you are condemned, O man! if you are lost, O woman! you will not find in this Bible one drop to cool your tongue, or one doctrine to lessen your guilt. Your damnation will be entirely your own fault and your sin will richly merit it, because you believe you are not condemned. “ You believe not because you are not of my sheep. You will not come to me that you might have life.” Do not fancy that election excuses sin—do not dream of it—do not rock yourself in sweet complacency in the thought of your irresponsibility. You are responsible. We must give you both things. We must have divine sovereignty and we must have man’s responsibility. We must have election, but we must ply your hearts, we must send God’s truth at you. We must speak to you and remind you of this, that while it is written, “In me is your help,” yet it is also written, “O Israel, you have destroyed yourself.”

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

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.

Then, thirdly, this election is ETERNAL. “God has from the beginning chosen you unto eternal life.” Can any man tell me when the beginning was? Years ago we thought the beginning of this world was when Adam came upon it, but we have discovered that thousands of years before that, God was preparing chaotic matter to make it a fit abode for man, putting races of creatures upon it, who might die and leave behind the marks of His handiwork and marvelous skill, before He tried His hand on man.

But that was not the beginning, for revelation points us to a period long ere this world was fashioned, to the days when the morning stars were begotten when, like drops of dew from the fingers of the morning, stars and constellations fell trickling from the hand of God. When, by His own lips, He launched forth ponderous orbs. When with His own hand, He sent comets, like thunderbolts, wandering through the sky, to find one day their proper sphere.

We go back to years gone by, when worlds were made and systems fashioned, but we have not even approached the beginning yet. Until we go to the time when all the universe slept in the mind of God as yet unborn, until we enter the eternity where God the Creator lived alone, everything sleeping within Him, all creation resting in His mighty gigantic thought, we have not guessed the beginning.

We may go back, back, back, ages upon ages. We may go back, if we might use such strange words, whole eternities and yet never arrive at the beginning. Our wing might be tired, our imagination would die away. Could it outstrip the lightnings flashing in majesty, power, and rapidity, it would soon weary itself ere it could get to the beginning. But God from the beginning chose His people.

When the unnavigated ether was yet unfanned by the wing of a single angel. When space was shoreless or else unborn. When universal silence reigned and not a voice or whisper shocked the solemnity of silence. When there was no being and no motion, no time and nought but God Himself, alone in His eternity. When without the song of an angel, without the attendance of even the cherubim, long ere the living creatures were born, or the wheels of the chariot of JEHOVAH were fashioned, even then, “In the beginning was the word,” and in the beginning God’s people were one with the Word and “In the beginning he chose them unto eternal life.” Our election then is eternal. I will not stop to prove it. I only just run over these thoughts for the benefit of young beginners, that they may understand what we mean by eternal, absolute election.

And, next, the election is PERSONAL. Here again, our opponents have tried to overthrow election by telling us that it is an election of nations and not of people. But here the apostle says, “God has from the beginning chosen you.” It is the most miserable shift on earth to make out that God has not chosen persons, but nations, because the very same objection that lies against the choice of persons, lies against the choice of a nation. If it were not just to choose a person, it would be far more unjust to choose a nation, since nations are but the union of multitudes of persons.

And to choose a nation seems to be a more gigantic crime—if election be a crime—than to choose one person. Surely to choose ten thousand would be reckoned to be worse than choosing one—to distinguish a whole nation from the rest of mankind does seem to be a greater extravaganza in the acts of divine sovereignty than the election of one poor mortal and leaving out another. But what are nations, but men? What are whole peoples, but combinations of different units?

A nation is made up of that individual, and that, and that. And if you tell me that God chose the Jews, I say then, He chose that Jew, and that Jew, and that Jew. And if you say He chooses Britain, then I say He chooses that British person, and that British person, and that British person. So that it is the same thing after all. Election then is personal. It must be so. Everyone who reads this text and others like it, will see that Scripture continually speaks of God’s people one by one and speaks of them as having been the special subjects of election. “Sons we are through God’s election, Who in Jesus Christ believe; By eternal destination Sovereign grace we here receive.” We know it is personal election

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

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!

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.

The witnesses of truth stand by us. With these for us, we will not say that we stand alone, but we may exclaim, “Lo, God has reserved unto himself seven thousand that have not bowed the knee unto Baal.” But the best of all is God is with us. The great truth is always the Bible and the Bible alone. My hearers, you do not believe in any other book than the Bible, do you? If I could prove this from all the books in Christendom, if I could fetch back the Alexandrian library and prove it thence, you would not believe it anymore, but you surely will believe what is in God’s Word.

I have selected a few texts to read to you. I love to give you a whole volley of texts when I am afraid you will distrust a truth, so that you may be too astonished to doubt, if you do not in reality believe. Just let me run through a catalog of passages where the people of God are called elect. Of course if the people are called elect, there must be election. If Jesus Christ and His apostles were accustomed to style believers by the title of elect, we must certainly believe that they were so, otherwise the term does not mean anything.

Jesus Christ says, “Except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved; , but for the elect’s sake, whom he has chosen, he has shortened the days.” “False Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.” “Then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” Mark 13:20, 22, 27. “Shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them?” Luke 18:7.

Together with many other passages which might be selected, wherein either the word “elect,” or “chosen,” or “foreordained,” or “appointed,” is mentioned, or the phrase “my sheep,” or some similar designation, showing that Christ’s people are distinguished from the rest of mankind. But you have concordances and I will not trouble you with texts. Throughout the epistles, the saints are constantly called “the elect.” In Colossians, we find Paul saying, “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies.”

When he writes to Titus, he calls himself, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect.” Peter says, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Then if you turn to John, you will find he is very fond of the word. He says, “The elder to the elect lady.” And he speaks of our “elect sister.” And we know where it is written, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you.”

They were not ashamed of the word in those days. They were not afraid to talk about it. Nowadays the word has been dressed up with diversities of meaning, and persons have mutilated and marred the doctrine so that they have made it a very doctrine of devils, I do confess. And many who call themselves believers have gone to rank Antinomianism. But not withstanding this, why should I be ashamed of it, if men do wrest it? We love God’s truth on the rack, as well as when it is walking upright.

If there were a martyr whom we loved before he went on the rack, we should love him more still when he was stretched there. When God’s truth is stretched on the rack, we do not call it falsehood. We love not to see it racked, but we love it even when racked, because we can discern what its proper proportions ought to have been if it had not been racked and tortured by the cruelty and inventions of men. If you will read many of the epistles of the ancient fathers, you will find them always writing to the people of God as the “elect.” Indeed the common conversational term used among many of the churches by the primitive Christians to one another was that of the “elect.” They would often use the term to one another, showing that it was generally believed that all God’s people were manifestly “elect.”

But now for the verses that will positively prove the doctrine. Open your Bibles and turn to John 15:16, and there you will see that Jesus Christ has chosen His people, for He says, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” Then in the nineteenth verse, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Then in the seventeenth chapter and the eighth and nineth verses, “For I have given unto them the words which you gave me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me for they are yours.”

Turn to Acts 13:48, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” They may try to split that passage into hairs if they like, but it says, “ordained to eternal life” in the original as plainly as it possibly can. And we do not care about all the different commentaries thereupon.

You scarcely need to be reminded of Romans 8, because I trust you are all well-acquainted with that chapter and understand it by this time. In the twenty-ninth and following verses, it says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”

It would also be unnecessary to repeat the whole of the ninth chapter of Romans. As long as that remains in the Bible, no man shall be able to prove Arminianism. So long as that is written there, not the most violent contortions of the passage will ever be able to exterminate the doctrine of election from the Scriptures. Let us read such verses as these, “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.” Then read the twenty-second verse, “What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?”

Then go on to Romans 11:7, “What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeks for, but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” In the sixth verse of the same chapter, we read, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”

More to Come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

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.

First, I must try and prove that the doctrine is TRUE. And let me begin with an argumentum ad hominen—I will speak to you according to your different positions and stations. There are some of you who belong to the church of England and I am happy to see so many of you here. Though now and then I certainly say some very hard things about church and State, yet I love the old church, for she has in her communion many godly ministers and eminent saints.

Now I know you are great believers in what the Articles declare to be sound doctrine. I will give you a specimen of what they utter concerning election, so that if you believe them, you cannot avoid receiving election. I will read a portion of the 17th Article upon Predestination and Election— “Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He has continually decreed by His counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He has chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honor. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by His Spirit working in due season: They through grace obey the calling: they are justified freely: they are made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.”

Now, I think any Churchman, if he be a sincere and honest believer in Mother Church, must be a thorough believer in election. True, if he turns to certain other portions of the Prayer Book, he will find things contrary to the doctrines of free-grace and altogether apart from Scriptural teaching, but if he looks at the Articles, he must see that God has chosen His people unto eternal life. I am not so desperately enamored, however, of that book as you may be and I have only used this Article to show you that if you belong to the Establishment of England you should at least offer no objection to this doctrine of predestination.

Another human authority whereby I would confirm the doctrine of election is the old Waldensian Creed. If you read the creed of the old Waldenses, emanating from them in the midst of the burning heat of persecution, you will see that these renowned professors and confessors of the Christian faith did most firmly receive and embrace this doctrine as being a portion of the truth of God. I have copied from an old book, one of the Articles of their faith: “That God saves from corruption and damnation those whom He has chosen from the foundations of the world, not for any disposition, faith, or holiness that He before saw in them, but of His mere mercy in Christ Jesus, His Son, passing by all the rest according to the irreprehensible reason of His own free-will and justice.”

 It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching—no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, which are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth, I make a pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me. Were I a Pelagian, or a believer in the doctrine of free-will, I would have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and Sermons #41, 42 Unconditional Election Volume 1 3 3 there a heretic of no very honorable character might rise up and call me brother, but taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren. I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do and acknowledge that this is the religion of God’s own church.

I also give you an extract from the old Baptist Confession. We are Baptists in this congregation—the greater part of us, at any rate—and we like to see what our own forefathers wrote. Some two hundred years ago, the Baptists assembled together and published their articles of faith, to put an end to certain reports against their orthodoxy which had gone forth to the world. I turn to this old book—which I have just published, the Baptist Confession of Faith, and I find the following as the third Article, “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ to the praise of His glorious grace. Others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His glorious justice. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. Those of mankind who are predestinated to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, has chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of His mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature as condition or cause moving Him hereunto.”

As for these human authorities, I care not one rush for all three of them. I care not what they say, pro or con, as to this doctrine. I have only used them as a kind of confirmation to your faith, to show you that while I may be railed upon as a heretic and as a hyper-Calvinist, after all I am backed up by antiquity. All the past stands by me. I do not care for the present. Give me the past and I will hope for the future. Let the present rise up in my teeth, I will not care. What though a host of the churches of London may have forsaken the great cardinal doctrines of God, it matters not. If a handful of us stand alone in an unflinching maintenance of the sovereignty of our God, if we are beset by enemies, ay, and even by our own brethren, who ought to be our friends and helpers, it matters not, if we can but count upon the past, the noble army of martyrs, the glorious host of confessors. They are our friends.

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.

Soli deo Gloria!

Each Lord’s Day for the next several months, there will be a devotional entitled A Word Fitly Spoken. The title is taken from Proverbs 25:11 which says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” 

Our current study from Scripture concerns the subject of holiness. Today’s essay continues to ask the question, what is holiness? Holiness, or to be holy, is a doctrine found throughout the Scriptures; in both the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, an understanding of holiness is important for the converted, and unconverted, to know what holiness is, and what it is not.

In the Old Testament (OT), the Hebrew word for holy, or holiness, is kahdosh (קָד֧וֹשׁ׀). It means to be ceremonially and morally sacred, set apart, or uniquely consecrated. When referring to God, the term calls attention to the LORD’s unique and awesome splendor (Isaiah 1:4).

In the New Testament (NT), the Greek word for holy, or holiness, is (ἅγιος, hagios). As in the OT, hagios refers to separation from the common, unclean, profane. It is also a consecration unto God. The New Testament church borrowed heavily from the OT’s understanding of holiness. This should not surprise us. The Scriptures for the early church, prior to the writing of the NT, was the OT (Psalm 1; 19; 119; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).  

“The New Testament’s terminology and meaning of holiness is directly dependent upon the Old Testament’s conception of holiness.”— Dr. M.C. Lyons 

“God’s holiness means He is separated from sin and devoted to seeking His own honor.” – Dr. Wayne Grudem

Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy” (Rev. 15:4). He only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. In Scripture He is frequently styled “The Holy One”: He is so because the sum of all moral excellency is found in Him. He is absolute Purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Holiness is the very excellency of the Divine nature: the great God is “glorious in holiness” (Ex. 15:11). Therefore, we read, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Hab. 1:13). As God’s power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement. Of old God appointed singers in Israel “that they should praise for the beauty of holiness” (2 Chron. 20:21). – A.W. Pink

God calls believers to holiness (I Thess. 4;7). Every believer is God’s holy temple (I Cor. 3:17; 6:19-20). Jesus Christ will present each Christian holy and blameless before Himself (Col. 1:22).  The converted are to continue in faith, love and holiness (I Tim. 2:15), along with being upright, holy and disciplined (Titus 1:8). Believers are to be holy, because God is holy (I Peter 1:16).

Christians are to strive for holiness (Heb. 12:14), to share in God’s holiness by His loving discipline (Heb. 12:10), to avoid close associations with the unconverted (2 Cor. 6:14-18), and to cleanse ourselves from any and all moral defilement (Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 7:1). The church is to grow in holiness (Eph. 2:21), in order to be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26-27).

Dr. Keith A. Mathison is professor of systematic theology at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Fla. He comments on holiness are worth considering.

The early centuries of the church’s existence, Christian apologists would sometimes appeal to the distinctively holy lives of Christians as evidence for the truth of Christianity. Would such an appeal be of any use today? According to numerous surveys, the behavior of professing Christians is not discernibly different from the behavior of those who profess other religions or no religion at all. The phrase one often hears on the lips of pagans who observe contemporary Christian behavior is: “The church is full of hypocrites.” This should not be. We worship a holy God who calls His people to be holy and who has provided the means by which they may be holy.

The believer’s pursuit of holiness begins with a salvific encounter with the living God of the Bible who is holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:1-3). This encounter occurred in my life over 50 years ago. God justified, redeemed and reconciled me by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. The Lord also called me to live a holy life for His honor and glory (I Peter 1:13-16).

This pursuit has not always been easy (Rom 7:13-15). I often sensed I was moving one step forward in my pursuit of holiness, while simultaneously moving two steps backward.

God’s call to holiness for believers, referred to as sanctification, is as fundamental to the Christian life as justification. Justification results in sanctification and sanctification is the evidence of justification (James 2:14-26). True conversion, its initial occurrence and subsequent impact, results from an encounter with the holy God of Scripture. We will examine such an encounter, between the LORD and the Prophet Isaiah, next month.

Who else commands all the hosts of heaven?
Who else could make every king bow down?
Who else can whisper and darkness trembles?
Only a Holy God.

What other beauty demands such praises?
What other splendor outshines the sun?
What other majesty rules with justice?
Only a Holy God.

Come and behold Him
The One and the Only
Cry out, sing holy
Forever a Holy God
Come and worship the Holy God.

What other glory consumes like fire?
What other power can raise the dead?
What other name remains undefeated?
Only a Holy God.

Who else could rescue me from my failing?
Who else would offer His only Son?
Who else invites me to call Him Father?
Only a Holy God
Only my Holy God.

Come and behold Him
The One and the Only
Cry out, sing holy
Forever a Holy God
Come and worship the Holy God. — Michael Farren, Rich Thompson, Dustin Smith, Jonny Robinson. 

Soli deo Gloria!