The Blood of the Everlasting Covenant
A Sermon
(No. 277)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, September 4th, 1859, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"The blood of the everlasting covenant."–Hebrews 13:20.
ALL GOD'S dealings with men have had a covenant character. It hath so
pleased Him to arrange it, that he will not deal with us except through
a covenant, nor can we deal with Him except in the same manner. Adam in
the garden was under a covenant with God and God was in covenant with
Him. That covenant he speedily brake. There is a covenant still
existing in all its terrible power–terrible I say, because it has been
broken on man's part, and therefore God will most surely fulfill its
solemn threatenings and sanctions. That is the covenant of works. By
this he dealt with Moses, and in this doth he deal with the whole race
of men as represented in the first Adam. Afterwards when God would deal
with Noah, it was by a covenant; and when in succeeding ages he dealt
with Abraham, he was still pleased to bind himself to him by a
covenant. That covenant he preserved and kept, and it was renewed
continually to many of his seed. God dealt not even with David, the man
after his own heart, except with a covenant. He made a covenant with
his anointed; and beloved , he dealeth with you and me this day still
by covenant. When he shall come in all his terrors to condemn, he shall
smite by covenant–namely, by the sword of the covenant of Sinai; and
if he comes in the splendors of his grace to save, he still comes to us
by covenant–namely, the covenant of Zion; the covenant which he has
made with the Lord Jesus Christ, the head and representative of his
people. And mark, whenever we come into close and intimate dealings
with God, it is sure to be, on our part, also by covenant. We make with
God, after conversion, a covenant of gratitude; we come to him sensible
of what he has done for us, and we devote ourselves to him. We set our
seal to that covenant when in baptism we are united with his church;
and day by day, so often as we come around the table of the breaking of
the bread, we renew the vow of our covenant, and thus we have personal
intercourse with God. I cannot pray to him except through the covenant
of grace; and I know that I am not his child unless I am his, first
through the covenant whereby Christ purchased me, and secondly, through
the covenant by which I have given up myself, and dedicated all that I
am and all that I have to him. It is important, then, since the
covenant is the only ladder which reaches from earth to heaven–since
it is the only way in which God has intercourse with us, and by which
we can deal with him, that we should know how to discriminate between
covenant and covenant; and should not be in any darkness or error with
regard to what is the covenant of grace, and what is not. It shall be
our endeavor, this morning, to make as simple and as plain as possible,
the matter of the covenant spoken of in our text, and I shall thus
speak–first upon the covenant of grace; secondly, its everlasting
character; and thirdly, the relationship which the blood bears to it.
"The blood of the everlasting covenant."
I. First of all, then, I have to speak this morning of THE COVENANT
mentioned in the text; and I observe that we can readily discover at
first sight what the covenant is not. We see at once that this is not
the covenant of works, for the simple reason that this is an
everlasting covenant. Now the covenant of works was not everlasting in
any sense whatever. It was not eternal; it was first made in the garden
of Eden. It had a beginning, it has been broken; it will be violated
continually and will soon be wound up and pass away: therefore, it is
not everlasting in any sense. The covenant of works cannot bear an
everlasting title; but as the one in my text is an everlasting
covenant, therefore it is not a covenant of works. God made a covenant
first of all with the human race, which ran in this wise: "If thou, O
man, wilt be obedient, thou shalt live and be happy, but if thou wilt
be disobedient, thou shalt perish. In the day that thou disobey me thou
shalt die. That covenant was made with all of us in the person of our
representative, the first Adam. If Adam had kept that covenant, we
believe we should everyone of us have been preserved. But inasmuch as
he broke the covenant, you and I, and all of us, fell down and were
considered henceforth as the heirs of wrath, as inheritors of sin as
prone to every evil and subject to every misery. That covenant has
passed away with regard to God's people; it has been put away through
the new and better covenant which has utterly and entirely eclipsed it
by its gracious glory.
Again, I may remark that the covenant here meant is not the covenant of
gratitude which is made between the loving child of God and his
Saviour. Such a covenant is very right and proper. I trust all of us
who know the Saviour have said in our very hearts:–
"Tis done! The great transaction's done;
I am my Lord's, and he is mine."
We have given up everything to him. But that covenant is not the one in
the text, for the simple reason that the covenant in our text is an
everlasting one. Now ours was only written out some few years ago. It
would have been despised by us in the earlier parts of our life, and
cannot at the very utmost be so old as ourselves.
Having thus readily shown what this covenant is not, may I observe what
this covenant is. And here it will be necessary for me to subdivide
this head again and to speak of it thus: To understand a covenant, you
must know who are the contracting parties; secondly, what are the
stipulations of the contract; thirdly, what are the objects of it; and
then, if you would go still deeper, you must understand something of
the motives which lead the contracting parties to form the covenant
between themselves.
1. Now, in this covenant of grace, we must first of all observe the
high contracting parties between whom it was made. The covenant of
grace was made before the foundation of the world between God the
Father, and God the Son; or to put it in a yet more scriptural light,
it was made mutually between the three divine persons of the adorable
Trinity. This covenant was not made mutually between God and man. Man
did not at that time exist; but Christ stood in the covenant as man's
representative. In that sense we will allow that it was a covenant
between God and man, but not a covenant between God and any man
personally and individually. It was a covenant between God with Christ,
and through Christ indirectly with all the blood-bought seed who were
loved of Christ from the foundation of the world. It is a noble and
glorious thought, the very poetry of that old Calvinistic doctrine
which we teach, that long ere the day-star knew its place, before God
had spoken existence out of nothing, before angel's wing had stirred
the unnavigated ether, before a solitary song had distributed the
solemnity of the silence in which God reigned supreme, he had entered
into solemn council with himself, with his Son, and with his Spirit,
and had in that council decreed, determined, proposed, and
predestinated the salvation of his people. He had, moreover, in the
covenant arranged the ways and means, and fixed and settled everything
which should work together for the effecting of the purpose and the
decree. My soul flies back now, winged by imagination and by faith, and
looks into that mysterious council-chamber, and by faith I behold the
Father pledging himself to the Son, and the Son pledging himself to the
Father, while the Spirit gives his pledge to both, and thus that divine
compact, long to be hidden in darkness, is completed and settled–the
covenant which in these latter days has been read in the light of
heaven, and has become the joy, and hope, and boast of all the saints.
2. And now, what were the stipulations of this covenant? They were
somewhat in the wise. God has foreseen that man after creation would
break the covenant of works; that however mild and gentle the tenure
upon which Adam had possession of Paradise, yet that tenure would be
too severe for him, and he would be sure to kick against it, and ruin
himself. God had also foreseen that his elect ones, whom he had chosen
out of the rest of mankind would fall by the sin of Adam, since they,
as well as the rest of mankind, were represented in Adam. The covenant
therefore had for its end the restoration of the chosen people. And now
we may readily understands what were the stipulations. On the Father's
part, thus run the covenant. I cannot tell you it in the glorious
celestial tongue in which it was written: I am fain to bring it down to
the speech which suiteth to the ear of flesh, and to the heart of the
mortal. Thus, I say, run the covenant, in ones like these: "I, the Most
High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my only begotten and well-beloved
Son, a people, countless beyond the number of stars, who shall be by
him washed from sin, by him preserved, and kept, and led, and by him,
at last, presented before my throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing. I covenant by oath, and swear by myself, because I can
swear by no greater, that these whom I now give to Christ shall be for
ever the objects of my eternal love. Them I will forgive through the
merit of the blood. To these will I give a perfect righteousness; these
will I adopt and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with
me through Christ eternally." Thus run that glorious side of the
covenant. The Holy Spirit also, as one of the high contracting parties
on this side of the covenant, gave his declaration, "I hereby
covenant," saith he, "that all whom the Father giveth to the Son, I
will in due time quicken. I will show them their need of redemption; I
will cut off from them all groundless hope, and destroy their refuges
of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling; I will give them
faith whereby this blood shall be applied to them, I will work in them
every grace; I will keep their faith alive; I will cleanse them and
drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last
spotless and faultless." This was the one side of the covenant, which
is at this very day being fulfilled and scrupulously kept. As for the
other side of the covenant this was the part of it, engaged and
covenanted by Christ. He thus declared, and covenanted with his Father:
"My Father, on my part I covenant that in the fullness of time I will
become man. I will take upon myself the form and nature of the fallen
race. I will live in their wretched world, and for my people I will
keep the law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which
shall be acceptable to the demands of thy just and holy law. In due
time I will bear the sins of all my people. Thou shalt exact their
debts on me; the chastisement of their peace I will endure, and by my
stripes they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I
will be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I will
magnify thy law, and make it honourable. I will suffer all they ought
to have suffered. I will endure the curse of thy law, and all the vials
of thy wrath shall be emptied and spent upon my head. I will then rise
again; I will ascend into heaven; I will intercede for them at thy
right hand; and I will make myself responsible for every one of them,
that not one of those whom thou hast given me shall ever be lost, but I
will bring all my sheep of whom, by thy blood, thou hast constituted me
the shepherd–I will bring every one safe to thee at last." Thus ran
the covenant; and now, I think, you have a clear idea of what it was
and how it stands–the covenant between God and Christ, between God the
Father and God the Spirit, and God the Son as the covenant head and
representative of all Gods elect. I have told you, as briefly as I
could what were the stipulations of it. You will please to remark, my
dear friends, that the covenant is, on one side, perfectly fulfilled.
God the Son has paid the debts of all the elect. He has, for us men and
for our redemption, suffered the whole of wrath divine. Nothing
remaineth now on this side of the question except that he shall
continue to intercede, that he may safely bring all his redeemed to
glory.
On the side of the Father this part of the covenant has been fulfilled
to countless myriads. God the Father and God the Spirit have not been
behindhand in their divine contract. And mark you, this side shall be
as fully and as completely finished and carried out as the other.
Christ can say of what he promised to do. "It is finished!" and the
like shall be said by all the glorious covenanters. All for whom Christ
died shall be pardoned, all justified, all adopted. The Spirit shall
quicken them all, shall give them all faith, shall bring them all to
heaven, and they shall, every one of them, without let or hindrance,
stand accepted in the beloved, in the day when the people shall be
numbered, and Jesus shall be glorified.
3. And now having seen who were the high contracting parties, and what
were the terms of the covenant made between them, let us see what were
the objects of this covenant Was this covenant made for every man of
the race of Adam? Assuredly not; we discover the secret by the visible.
That which is in the covenant is to be seen in due time by the eye and
to be heard with the ear. I see multitudes of men perishing, continuing
wantonly in their wicked ways, rejecting the offer of Christ which is
presented to them in the Gospel day after day, treading under foot the
blood of the Son of Man, defying the Spirit who strives with them; I
see these men going on from bad to worse at last perishing in their
sins. I have not the folly to believe that they have any part in the
covenant of grace. Those who die impenitent, the multitudes who reject
the Saviour, are clearly proved to have no part and no lot in the
sacred covenant of divine grace; for if they were interested in that,
there would be certain marks and evidences which would show us this. We
should find that in due time in this life they would be brought to
repentance, would be washed in the Saviour's blood, and would be saved.
The covenant–to come at once straight to the matter, however offensive
the doctrine may be–the covenant has relationship to the elect and
none besides. Does this offend you? Be ye offended ever more. What said
Christ? "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me: for they are thine." If Christ prayeth for none but
for the chosen, why should ye be angry that ye are also taught from the
Word of God that in the covenant there was provision made for the like
persons, that they might receive eternal life. As many as shall
believe, as many as shall trust in Christ, as many as shall persevere
unto the end, as many as shall enter into the eternal rest, so many and
no more are interested in the covenant of divine grace.
4. Furthermore, we have to consider what were the motives of this
covenant. Why was the covenant made at all? There was no compulsion or
constraint on God. As yet there was no creature. Even could the
creature have an influence on the Creator, there was none existing in
the period when the covenant was made. We can look nowhere for God's
motive in the covenant except it be in himself, for of God it could be
said literally in that day, "I am, and there is none beside me." Why
then did he make the covenant? I answer, absolute sovereignty dictated
it. But why were certain men the objects of it and why not others? I
answer, sovereign grace guided the pen. It was not the merit of man, it
was nothing which God foresaw in us that made him choose many and leave
others to go on in their sins. It was nothing in them, it was
sovereignty and grace combined that made the divine choice. If you, my
brethren and sisters, have a good hope that you are interested in the
covenant of grace, you must sing that song–
"What was there in me to merit esteem, or give the Creator delight?
'Twas even so Father I ever sing, for so it seemed good in thy sight."
"He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," "for it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
His sovereignty elected, and his grace distinguished, and immutability
decreed. No motive dictated the election of the individuals, except a
motive in himself of love and of divine sovereignty. Doubtless the
grand intention of God in making the covenant at all was his own glory;
any motive inferior to that would be beneath his dignity. God must find
his motives in himself: he has not to look to moths and worms for
motives for his deeds. He is the "I AM."
"He sits on no precarious throne,
Nor borrows leave to be."
He doth as he wills in the armies of heaven. Who can stay his hand and
say unto him, "What doest thou?" Shall the clay ask the potter for the
motive for his making it into a vessel? Shall the thing formed before
its creation dictate to its Creator? No, let God be God, and let man
shrink into his native nothingness, and if God exalt him, let him not
boast as though God found a reason for the deed in man. He finds his
motives in himself. He is self-contained, and findeth nothing beyond
nor needeth anything from any but himself. Thus have I, as fully as
time permits this morning, discussed the first point concerning the
covenant. May the Holy Spirit lead us into this sublime truth.
II. But now, in the second place, we come to notice ITS EVERLASTING
CHARACTER. It is called an everlasting covenant. And here you observe
at once its antiquity. The covenant of grace is the oldest of all
things. It is sometimes a subject of great joy to me to think that the
covenant of grace is older than the covenant of works. The covenant of
works had a beginning, but the covenant of grace had not; and blessed
be God the covenant of works has its end, but the covenant of grace
shall stand fast when heaven and earth shall pass away. The antiquity
of the covenant of grace demands our grateful attention. It is a truth
which tends to elevate the mind. I know of no doctrine more grand than
this. It is the very soul and essence of all poetry, and in sitting
down and in sitting down and meditating upon it. I do confess my spirit
has sometimes been ravished with delight. Can you conceive the idea
that before all things God thought of you? That when as yet he had not
made his mountains, he had thought of thee, poor puny worm? Before the
magnificent constellations began to shine, and ere the great centre of
the world had been fixed, and all the mighty planets and divers worlds
had been made to revolve around it, then had God fixed the centre of
his covenant, and ordained the number of those lesser stars which
should revolve round that blessed centre, and derive light therefrom.
Why, when one is taken up with some grand conceptions of the boundless
universe, when with the astronomers we fly through space, when with we
find it without end, and the starry hosts without number, does it not
seem marvelous that God should give poor insignificant man the
preference beyond even the whole universe besides? Oh this cannot make
us proud, because it is a divine truth, but it must make us feel happy.
Oh believer, you think yourself nothing, but God does not think so of
you. Men despise you but God remembered you before he made anything.
The covenant of love which he made with his Son on your behalf is older
than the hoary ages, and if ye fly back when as yet time had not begun,
before those massive rocks that bear the marks of gray old age upon
them, had begun to be deposited, he had loved and chosen you, and made
a covenant on your behalf. Remember well these ancient things of the
eternal hills.
Then, again, it is an everlasting covenant from its sureness. Nothing
is everlasting which is not secure. Man may erect his structures and
think they may last for ever, but the Tower of Babel has crumbled, and
the very Pyramids bear signs of ruin. Nothing which man has made is
everlasting, because he cannot ensure it against decay. But as for the
covenant of grace, well David say of it, "It is ordered in all things
and sure." It is
"Signed, and sealed, and ratified,
In all things ordered well."
There is not an "if" or a "but" in the whole of it from beginning to
end. Free-will hates God's "shalls" and "wills," and likes man's "ifs"
and "buts," but there are no "ifs" and "buts" in the covenant of grace.
Thus the tenure runs: "I will" and "they shall." Jehovah swears it and
the Son fulfills it. It is–it must be true. It must be sure, for "I
AM" determines. "Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he
spoken, and shall he not make it good?" It is a sure covenant. I have
sometimes said, if any man were about to build a bridge or a house if
he would leave me just one single stone or one timber to put where I
liked, I would undertake that his house would fall down. Let me if
there is anyone about to construct a bridge, have just simply the
placing of one stone–I will select which stone it shall beùand I will
defy him to build a bridge that shall stand. I should simply select the
key-stone and then he might erect whatever he pleased and it should
soon fall. Now, the Armenian's covenant is one that cannot stand
because there are one or two bricks in it (and that is putting it in
the slightest form; I might have said, "because every stone in it," and
that would be nearer the mark) that are dependent on the will of man.
It is left to the will of the creator whether he will be saved or not.
If he will not, there is no constraining influence that can master and
overcome his will. There is no promise that any influence shall be
strong enough to overcome him, according to the Armenian. So the
question is left to man, and God the mighty Builder–though he put
stone on stone massive as the universe–yet may be defeated by this
creature. Out upon such blasphemy! The whole structure, from beginning
to end, is in the hand of God. The very terms and conditions of that
covenant are become its seals and guarantees, seeing that Jesus has
fulfilled them all. Its full accomplishment in every jot and title is
sure, and must be fulfilled by Christ Jesus, whether man will or man
will not. It is not the creature's covenant, it is the Creators. It is
not man's covenant, it is the Almighty's covenant, and he will carry it
out and perform it, the will of man notwithstanding. For this is the
very glory of grace–that man hates to be saved–that he is enmity to
him, yet God will have him redeemed–that God's consensus is. "You
shall," and man's intention is "I will not, and God's "shall" conquers
man's "I will not." Almighty grace rides victoriously over the neck of
free will and leads it captive in glorious captivity to the
all-conquering power of irresistible grace and love. It is a sure
covenant, and therefore deserves the title of everlasting.
Furthermore, it is not only sure, but it is immutable. If it were not
immutable, it could not be everlasting. That which changes passes away.
We may be quite sure that anything that has the word "change" on it,
will sooner or later die, and be put away as a thing of nought. But in
the covenant, everything is immutable. Whatever God has established
must come to pass, and not word, or line, or letter, can be altered.
Whatever the Spirit voweth shall be done, and whatever God the Son
promised hath been fulfilled, and shall be consummated at the day of
his appearing. Oh if we could believe that the sacred lines could be
erased–that the covenant could be blotted and blurred, why then my
dear friends, we might lie down and despair. I have heard it said by
some preachers, that when the Christian is holy, he is in the covenant;
that when he sins, he is crossed out again; that when he repents, he is
put in again, and if he fails he is scratched out once more; and so he
goes in and out of the door, as he would in and out of his own house.
He goes in at one door and out of another. He is sometimes the child of
God, and sometimes the child of the devil–sometimes an heir of heaven,
and anon an heir of hell. And I know one man who went so far as to say
that although a man might have persevered through grace for sixty
years, yet should he fall away the last year of his life–if he should
sin and die so, he would perish everlastingly, and all his faith, and
all the love which God had manifested to him in the day's gone by would
go for nothing. I am very happy to say that such a notion of God is
just the very notion I have of the devil. I could not believe in such a
God, and could not bow down before him. A god that loves today and
hates tomorrow; a God that gives a promise, and yet foreknows after all
that man shall not see the promise fulfilled; a God that forgives and
punishes–that justifies and afterwards executes–is a God that I
cannot endure. He is not the God of the Scriptures I am certain, for he
is immutable, just, holy, and true, and having loved his own, he will
love them to the end, and if he hath given a promise to any man, the
promise shall be kept, and that man once in grace, is in grace forever,
and shall without fall by-and-by enter into glory.
And then to finish up this point. The covenant is everlasting because
it will never run itself out. It will be fulfilled but it will stand
firm. When Christ hath completed all, and brought every believer to
heaven; when the Father hath seen all his people gathered in–the
covenant it is true, will come to a consummation, but not to a
conclusion, for thus the covenant runs: The heirs of grace shall be
blessed for ever, and as long as "for ever" lasts, this everlasting
covenant will demand the happiness, the security, the glorification, of
every object of it.
III. Having thus noticed the everlasting character of the covenant, I
conclude by the sweetest and most precious portion of the doctrine–the
relation which the blood bears to it–THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING
COVENANT. The blood of Christ stands in a fourfold relationship to the
covenant. With regard to Christ, his precious blood shed in Gethsemane,
in Gabbatha and Golgotha, is the fulfillment of the covenant. By this
blood sin is canceled; by Jesus' agonies justice is satisfied; by his
death the law is honoured; and by that precious blood in all its
mediatorial efficacy, and in all its cleansing power, Christ fulfills
all that He stipulated to do on the behalf of his people towards God.
Oh, believer, look to the blood of Christ, and remember that there is
Christ's part of the covenant carried out. And now, there remains
nothing to be fulfilled but God's part, there is nothing for thee to
do; Jesus has done it all; there is nothing for free will to supply;
Christ has done everything that God can demand. The blood is the
fulfillment of the debtor's side of the covenant, and now God becometh
bound by his own solemn oath to show grace and mercy to all whom Christ
has redeemed by his blood. With regard to the blood in another respect,
it is to God the Father the bond of the covenant. When I see Christ
dying on the cross, I see the everlasting God from that time, if I may
use the term of him who ever must be free, bound by his own oath and
covenant to carry out every stipulation. Does the covenant say, "A new
heart will I give thee, and a right spirit will I put within thee?" It
must be done, for Jesus died, and Jesus' death is the seal of the
covenant. Does it say, "I will sprinkle pure water upon them and they
shall be clean; from all their iniquities will I cleanse them?" Then it
must be done, for Christ has fulfilled his part. And, therefore, now we
can present the covenant no more as a thing of doubt; but as our claim
on God through Christ, and coming humbly on our knees, pleading that
covenant, our heavenly Father will not deny the promises contained
therein, but will make every one of them yea and amen to us through the
blood of Jesus Christ.
Then, again, the blood of the covenant has relation to us as the
objects of the covenant, and that is its third light; it is not only a
fulfillment as regards Christ, and a bond as regards his Father, but it
is an evidence as regards ourselves. And here, dear brothers and
sisters, let me speak affectionately to you. Are you relying wholly
upon the blood? Has his blood–the precious blood of Christ–been laid
to your conscience? Have you seen your sins pardoned, through his
blood? Have you received forgiveness of sins through the blood of
Jesus? Are you glorying in his sacrifice, and is his cross your only
hope and refuge? Then you are in the covenant. Some men want to know
whether they are elect. We cannot tell them unless they will tell us
this. Dost thou believe? Is thy faith fixed on the precious blood? Then
thou are in the covenant. And oh, poor sinner, if thou hast nothing to
recommend thee; if thou are standing back, and saying "I dare not come!
I am afraid! I am not in the covenant!" still Christ bids thee come.
"Come unto me," saith he. "If thou canst not come to the covenant
Father, come to the covenant Surety. Come unto me and I will give thee
rest." And when thou hast come to him, and his blood has been applied
to thee doubt not, but that in the red roll of election stands thy
name. Canst thou read thy name in the bloody characters of a Saviour's
atonement? Then shalt thou read it one day in the golden letters of the
Father's election. He that believeth is elected. The blood is the
symbol, the token, the earnest, the surety, the seal of the covenant of
grace to thee. It must ever be the telescope through which thou canst
look to see the things that are afar off. Thou canst not see they
election with the naked eye, but through the blood of Christ thou canst
see it clear enough. Trust thou in the blood, poor sinner, and then the
blood of the everlasting covenant is a proof that thou are an heir of
heaven. Lastly, the blood stands in a relationship to all three, and
here I may add that the blood is the glory of all. To the Son it is the
fulfillment, to the Father the bond, to the sinner the evidence, and to
all–To Father, Son, and sinner–it is the common glory and the common
boast. In this the Father is well pleased; in this the Son also, with
joy, looks down and sees the purchase of his agonies; and in this must
the sinner ever find his comfort and his everlasting song,–"Jesus, thy
blood and righteousness, are my glory, my song, for ever and ever!"
And now, my dear hearers, I have one question to ask, and I have done.
Have you the hope that you are in the covenant? Have you put your trust
in the blood? Remember, though you imagine, perhaps, from what I have
been saying, that the gospel is restricted, that the gospel is freely
preached to all. The decree is limited, but the good news is as wide as
the world. The good spell, the good news, is as wide as the universe. I
tell it to every creature under heaven, because I am told to do so. The
secret of God, which is to deal with the application, that is
restricted to God's chosen ones, but not the message, for that is to be
proclaimed to all nations. Now thou hast heard the gospel many and many
a time in thy life. It runs thus: "This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners." Dost thou believe that? And this is thy hope–something
like this: "I am a sinner. I trust Christ has died for me; I put my
trust in the merit of his blood, and sink or swim, I have no other hope
but this.
'Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling'"
Thou hast heard it; hast thou received it in thy heart, and laid hold
on it; then thou art one of those in the covenant. And why should
election frighten thee? If thou hast chosen Christ, depend upon it he
has chosen thee. If thy tearful eye is looking to him, then his
omniscient eye has long looked on thee; if thy heart lovest him, his
heart loves thee better than ever thou canst love, and if now thou art
saying, "My father, thou shalt be the guide of my youth," I will tell
thee a secret–he has been thy guide, and has brought thee to be what
thou now art, a humble seeker, and he will be thy guide and bring thee
safe at last. But art thou a proud, boastful, free-willer, saying, "I
will repent and believe whenever I choose; I have as good a right to be
saved as anybody, for I do my duty as well as others, and I shall
doubtless get my reward"–if you are claiming a universal atonement,
which is to be received at the option of man's will, go and claim it,
and you will be disappointed in your claim. You will find God will not
deal with you on that ground at all, but will say, "Get thee hence, I
never knew thee. He that cometh not to me through the Son cometh not at
all." I believe the man who is not willing to submit to the electing
love and sovereign grace of God, has great reason to question whether
he is a Christian at all, for the spirit that kicks against that is the
spirit of the devil, and the spirit of the unhumbled, unrenewed heart.
May God take away the enmity out of your heart to his own precious
truth, and reconcile you to himself through THE BLOOD of his Son, which
is the bond and seal of the everlasting covenant.