Election and Holiness

Spurgeon defends the doctrine of Election as singular (God bypassed angels to choose fallen men), unconstrained (it rests on God's free will rather than any goodness in the chosen, foreseen or otherwise), and just (no one merits salvation, and God owes mercy to none, so giving extra grace to some wrongs no one, while the unsaved are lost only because they themselves refuse to come). He proves its truth by pointing out that even believers who deny the doctrine in theory affirm it the moment they pray for God to save specific loved ones or sing hymns crediting grace alone for their own conversion, since both acts assume God distinguishes between people. He closes by demolishing the charge that Election promotes sinful living, arguing instead that being chosen and separated by God's love is itself a powerful motive toward holiness, not license for sin, and urges believers to live up to their high calling without shame while warning unbelievers never to use uncertainty about election as an excuse for unbelief, since the only business required of anyone is simply to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on March 11th, 1860.