“I will be gracious upon whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy upon whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33.19.)
Introduction. Because God is the maker and creator and upholder of all things, he has a right to do as he wills with all his works. But God, being who he is, must act in accordance with the principles of kindness. And justice seems to demand that there shall be no punishment where there is no sin. But man has given his rights up as a creature. If he ever had any, he has sinned them away. All God owes us is wrath. Whether we agree about it or not, God should be sovereign, and God is sovereign. We Englishmen are as guilty of political crimes as other nations, like in our opium traffic with China. Yet we have lately had revival. Why not the Japanese? Divine sovereignty is why. In every conversion some beam of the absolute dominion of God shines forth upon mankind.
(1) This Doctrine does not Oppose Other Scriptural Comforts. “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but had rather that he should turn unto me and live.” There is no conflict at all between God’s sovereignty and God’s goodness. There is nothing in the sovereignty of God that prevents any seeker craving divine grace by humble prayer through Jesus Christ, to be a finder. But it is God who makes a man seek. And there is your evidence of divine election. It is written, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” This agrees with election. If someone says he will not come because he may not be elect, this is nothing but an idle excuse for not doing what he has no mind to do. If you cannot reconcile doctrines together, there is your swimming-room for faith. But for sure, whatever else may be false, the gospel is true, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The doctrine of election says that God has chosen and has saved some of the greatest sinners who ever lived.
(2) This Doctrine has a Most Beneficial Effect upon Sinners. To the awakened sinner, next to the doctrine of the cross, the doctrine of distinguishing grace is perhaps the one that blesses and comforts most of all. The doctrine of election, applied by the Holy Ghost, strikes dead forever all efforts of the flesh. Arminian preaching aims to make men active, to excite men to do what they can. Gospel preaching lays men as dead at the foot of God’s throne. “I kill and I make alive,” says God. When a man is killed the work is half done. To set a sinner laboring after eternal life by his own works is to be an ambassador of hell. The hammer of electing sovereignty dashes out the brains of all a man’s works, merits, doings, and willings. And nothing better than this can be done as a stepping-stone to the act of faith. If the world’s authorities were to decide to release from prison either a rich man or a poor man, the poor man would have little chance of being delivered. But when God is the great sovereign the case is different! He saves those who have no influence at all! This doctrine opens the door to the worst of the worst. Those who think to be saved by their own influence will be damned. The doctrine of election causes humility in the one who believes in it. “If God had left me, I had been in hell with others,” he says. And so he holds his opinions, but not savagely. He says, “Why should I blame those who cannot see?—for I could not have seen if God had not opened my own blind eyes.”
Selection from Conclusion. “What do you say who have made up your minds not to repent…Why, you believe that any day you like you can turn to God…thinking it all depends upon you, and that you will get into heaven just at the eleventh hour. Ah, man! that is not your case…God can damn you now…You are condemned already…’Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.’”
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