Ordained

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth… – 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Open your Bibles and turn to John 15:16, and there you will see that Jesus Christ has chosen His people, for He says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” Then in the 19th verse, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Then in the 17th chapter and the 8th and 9th verses, “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.” 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 29th 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 9th 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.

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

Saints are Called the Elect

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth… – 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Throughout the epistles, the saints are constantly called “the elect.” In the 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. Now-a-days 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 notwithstanding 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 came 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 do not love 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.”

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

This Great and Glorious Doctrine

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14

In many of our pulpits it would be reckoned a high sin and treason to preach a sermon upon Election, because they could not make it what they call a “practical” discourse. I believe they have erred from the truth therein. Whatever God has revealed, He has revealed for a purpose. There is nothing in Scripture which may not, under the influence of God’s Spirit, be turned into a practical discourse: for “all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable” for some purpose of spiritual usefulness. It is true, it may not be turned into a free-will discourse—that we know right well—but it can be turned into a practical free-grace discourse: and free-grace practice is the best practice, when the true doctrines of God’s immutable love are brought to bear upon the hearts of saints and sinners.

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…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 hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.” “False christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew 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 part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” “Shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?” 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.

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

Magnificat 

Sherry sermon

You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Make Ready, for He Comes

Sherry Attributes of God, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. – Job 1:21

It is not always proper for us to ask reasons for divine acts, for if He gives no account of His matters we ought not to ask any account. That frivolous affectation of piety which leads even professedly Christian men to call every affliction a judgment, and to consider that every patron who is suddenly taken away, dies as a judgment either upon him or others, I detest from my very soul…Those who talk thus know nought of their Bibles. They upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, dream ye that they were worse sinners than others? I am utterly sick of the cant of a portion of the religious world, when they raised a kind of miniature howl at me, when I said, and still repeat it, that an accident on a railway on the Sunday is not a judgment, but happens in the common course of Providence, and that we are not to look for an immediate reason close at hand for any of these events.

I hear a voice which says to me, “Preacher! be instant in season and out of season, be up and doing, earnest and fervent, for thy day is short, and thy time shall soon be over.” I hear a voice which says to you, officers of the Church, “Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit—serving the Lord; for soon shall the pallor of death overtake you, and He shall lay His chill hand upon your hoary heads and stretch you in the cold grave.” I hear a voice which speaks to the people of my charge—the members of this Christian Church—”Work while it is called today, for the night cometh wherein no man can work.” And I hear a solemn note, ringing as a funeral bell to you who are unconverted, and I translate its message thus—”Prepare to meet your God, ye careless ones, who are at ease, make ready, for He comes; ye thoughtless ones, who give yourselves no trouble about eternity, make ready, for He comes; drunkard, thou who art a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God, make ready for He comes; swearer, blasphemer, make ready, for He comes; He comes whom thou hast blasphemed; and each one of you, if ye be out of Christ, if your sins still lie upon you, if ye have never sought and found absolution from the lips of God your Father, seek it, seek it, for He comes. 

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

I Can See My Father’s Hand

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

The greatest temptation of modern times is to impute everything which happens to the laws of nature. Now, this may satisfy philosophy, but theology goes a little further, and while it admits all the laws of matter, yet it asserts that a law is in itself utterly powerless, apart from a power to carry it out. It may be a law that such-and-such things shall be done, but they never will be done unless there be some power to make the law effective. The notion of some in modern times seems to be, that this world is like a great clock, wound up many years ago- in fact, there are some who believe in perpetual motion and appear to teach that it wound itself up. In order to get rid of God, and send Him as far away as possible, they go back to primeval times and conceive that then all the wheels were set in motion, and a sufficient quantity of momentum put into the whole affair, so that it is now going on of itself. As to divine interpositions, these they will not believe; miracles, of course, are absurd, and everything is left to the ordinary laws of nature, there being sufficient vitality, according to some, in the world itself to carry on its own acts, according to certain laws and rules. Blessed be God, we know that this is not true. We believe it is our duty to use every sanitary means to remove the seeds of disease; we believe that they err who would proclaim a fast over a plague, when it were better to sweep the street; we think that they are wrong who only go to the prayer-meeting when they had better go and put down a row of dilapidated cottages and build better ones; we think that they are impractical and do not understand the Scriptures well, who would be on their knees when they ought to be on their feet and doing earnest work for man; but at the same time, still we have it, that the Lord has done everything, and that calamities come not except God putteth forth His hand—that it is His will to remove men by death, and only by His will could they die. Why, that idea of leaving us all to machinery is an unhappy one to a man who can say, “My Father, my Father in heaven.” I can see my Father’s hand…Blessed be God, we have no doubt about our answer to the question. Even if there be evil in a city the Lord hath done it!

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

It’s Not Fate, but God’s Loving Will

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

Some predestinarians without a God, are as far astray in their ideas as those who believe in chance without a God…forgetting their God they deny the thought of chance, but they bend to the idea of fate…I thank God that while I believe in predestination, I know the difference between that and fate. Fate is predestination blind, demented, brainless, wandering about, achieving wondrous things without a purpose, overturning mountains, plucking up cedars by the roots, scattering firebrands, hurling deaths about, but all without an end. Such is fate—It is because it must be—events occur, because they shall be. But predestination is a glorious thing. With many eyes it looketh to the interests of God and His creatures too, and although it saith the thing must be, yet it must be because it is wise, and right, and just, and kind, that it should be; and though we may think that it comes to the same in the end, yet to our hearts the differences are as wide as the poles asunder. Believe not in fate but believe in God. Say not it was the man’s destiny but say it is God’s will. Say not, a cruel and irresistible fate hath snatched him away; but say, a tender hand, finding that the due time was come, hath taken him from evil to come.

If neither a foolish chance nor an insensate fate hath done it; perhaps the spirit of evil may have inflicted it. Perhaps Satan may bring evils upon us; perhaps he may drag down men to their graves; perhaps he may cut the thread of life; perhaps he is the evil genius of the world, and the keeper of the gates of death…Look not on your troubles and trials, my brethren in Christ, as coming from hell. Satan may sometimes be the instrument of your pains, but still, they come from God. In the cup of our sorrows, there is not a dreg which the Father did not put there; bitter as the compound may be, the eternal hand of wisdom mixed the whole. The rod may fall, but Satan does not wield it. Like as a father “chasteneth his children,” so the Lord doth chasten “them that fear Him.” Jesus, Thou hast vanquished Satan, Thou hast delivered us from the very fear of death, because Thou hast destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon