Taking Hold of God's Covenant
(No. 2762)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 19, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 5, 1879.
"And takes hold of My Covenant." Isaiah 56:4.
"And takes hold of My Covenant." Isaiah 56:6.
IT was generally supposed by the Jews that no one except the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could be in Covenant
relationship with God. You remember, however, how Paul says, in writing
to the Romans, "But Isaiah is very bold," and he is so in this
instance. He declares that men may take hold of the Covenant of God
though, heretofore, they appeared to be shut out from its privileges.
There were certain poor mutilated beings who were despised by some
because of their disabilities–yet they were to be encouraged to keep
the Lord's Sabbaths, to choose the things that pleased Him and to take
hold of His Covenant. Then there were the foreigners, of whom the Lord
said, "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to Jehovah,
to serve Him and to love the name of Jehovah to be His servants,
everyone that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of My
Covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain and make them
joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar; for My house shall be
called an house of prayer for all people."
It was thus clearly revealed that persons who appeared to be shut out
from the Covenant because they were not of the seed of Abraham, were,
in later days, to be encouraged to obey the commands of God and
especially to obey His ordinance concerning the keeping of the
Sabbath–which separated His people from the rest of mankind–and to
take hold of His Covenant. It is of that particular action of taking
hold of God's Covenant that I am about to speak as the Holy Spirit
shall enable me.
I. And first, let us enquire, WHAT IS THIS COVENANT? We must know the
truth concerning this point, for it has been well said, "He who
understands the Covenants holds the key of all theology."
Well, then, let us bear in mind the fact that there was, first of all,
a Covenant made with our father, Adam–not, perhaps, in set terms, but
virtually–that if he would do the will of God, he would live and that,
if he did so, we also would live by virtue of his obedience. But, alas,
our great Covenant head, Adam the first, could not keep that Covenant.
He took of the fruit of the tree which he was forbidden to eat and so
the Covenant of Works, which had been made with him, was torn in
pieces. We might say of that sad event what Mark Anthony said of the
murder of Julius Caesar–
"Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of
us fell down." I should think that none of us want to take hold of that
Covenant, for we are already all sufferers by it. We are, all of us,
the heirs of sorrow, travail and death as the result of that broken
Covenant. Those of you who fancy that you can get to Heaven by obeying
the commands of God should remember that even the perfect Adam could
not keep the Law of God, so how shall his imperfect children do what he
failed to accomplish? He, in whom was no sin, for he was created
without taint of guilt, disobeyed his Maker–so, shall not we be sure
to disobey Him when all our powers and faculties are debased by the
guilt which we have inherited from him?
Yes, we have disobeyed Him already. We have broken His Law again and
again! So any hope of happiness through the keeping of the Law which we
may have cherished, is forever vain. The Covenant of Works is broken
and all hope of our being saved by it is gone forever–
"Vain are the hopes the sons of men
On their own works have built.
Their hearts by nature are unclean
And all their actions guilt.
Let Jew and Gentile stop their mouths
Without a murmuring word
And the whole race of Adam stand
Guilty before the Lord.
In vain we ask God's righteous Law
To justify us now,
Since to convince and to condemn
Is all the Law can do."
But, now, blessed be the name of the Lord, there is a second Covenant,
made with the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ!And by that Covenant,
made with Him on behalf of all His people, it was provided that He
should Himself perfectly keep the Law and also that He should suffer
the penalty due from His people for their breaches of the Law. And
that, if He did both these things, then all those who were represented
in Him should live forever! We rejoice to know that Christ has both
kept the Law and paid the penalty that His people had incurred by
breaking it! He has rendered both an active and a passive obedience to
the Law of God so, now, according to the conditions of the Covenant,
all those for whom He lived and died, inherit, by Divine right, all the
blessings which Christ, their Covenant Representative, has procured on
their behalf!
I have already read to you the Inspired record of what those blessings
are. Let me just recall them to you–"A new heart also will I give you,
and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I
will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and you shall keep My judgments, and do them." All these are clear,
definite, unconditional promises–there is no, "if," or, "but," in the
whole quotation. There is nothing to be done, on our part, in order to
win the blessing! All that had to be done was done by Christ our
Representative more than 18 centuries ago! We fell, by no act of our
own, in the first Adam–and we rise, without any merit of our own, in
the Second Adam. The only question about which we need to be concerned,
is–Are we in Him? I know that question can be answered in the
affirmative by many of us–and I trust that others of us will be able
to lay hold on that Covenant by the life-grip of faith–then they will
also be able to say, "Yes, we are among those over whom Christ is the
Head and we have a share in all the privileges of the Covenant into
which He entered on our behalf."
The first Covenant was the Covenant of Works–"Do this and you shall
live." That Covenant, as I have shown you, was broken, but the new
Covenant is a Covenant of pure Grace. Christ has fulfilled all its
conditions on His people's behalf and, therefore, all its privileges
are theirs. Because He lives, they shall also live. Because He honored
and kept the Law–because He bore the shame and death of the
Cross–because He rose again from the dead and ascended to His Father's
right hand, where He always lives to carry on His glorious work of
intercession, therefore all they who are in Him shall have their
iniquities forgiven, their natures changed, their hearts renewed and
their whole souls filled with the overflowing Grace of God!
Not only is it a Covenant of pure Grace, but it is also a "Covenant
ordered in all things and surer The first Covenant failed because it
rested upon Adam–the pivot of the machinery broke and the whole thing
fell with a crash. The new Covenant stands because Christ did not fail.
The ancient Prophecy concerning Him was, "He shall not fail nor be
discouraged." Nor was He. He went right on with the great work He had
undertaken, treading the winepress alone, until He cried, "Consummatum
est"–"It is finished!"–and then, and not till then, He gave up the
ghost. Now, as every condition of the Covenant has been fulfilled by
Christ, the whole of it stands fast as a clear matter of promise which
a truth-speaking, ever-faithful God must keep. He cannot run back from
it, nor does He wish to do so–
"Engraved as in eternal brass
The mighty promise shines!
Nor can the powers of darkness erase
Those everlasting lines!"
Yet once more, let me remind you that the ensign of this Covenant is
faith. Under the old Covenant it was and always would have been, works.
But, under the new Covenant, it is faith. Do you believe? Then you are
in Christ and all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace are yours. Do
you accept Christ to stand as your Substitute? Do you lay hold on this
Covenant and claim an interest in it for your own soul? Do you cast
yourself wholly upon Him who kept that Covenant for you? Then it is
yours and God speaks to you, my believing Hearer, as though there were
no other person in the whole universe–and He says to you–"I will
sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean; I will put My Law
in your mind, and write it on your heart; and I will give you a new
heart and a right spirit. From all your uncleanness will I cleanse you,
and you shall be My child, and I will be your Father and your God."
What a Covenant of Grace this is! I have given you only a bare outline
of its provisions, but I hope that outline will make many of you want
to know how you can lay hold upon it for yourselves!
II. That is the next question I want to answer. HOW CAN WE LAY HOLD OF
IT? My text speaks of "taking hold
of My Covenant." How can I do that?
Well, the first thing that I must do is, I must loosen my hold of the
old Covenant. Oh, what dolts, what fools, men are to cling to the old
Covenant which can never do anything but curse them! You say that you
hope to be saved by keeping God's Law, but, Man, you have already
broken that Law! If you had a beautiful vase in your home and it had
the slightest crack or flaw in it anywhere, it would not be a perfect
work of art. Now, the Law of God is so tender and delicate, and enters
so into the spirituality of man's nature that even a sinful thought
spoils the perfection of obedience to it! And you have had a great many
more than one sinful thought, I know, whoever you may be. And many an
idle word have you uttered and, I fear, many a wrong act have you done.
You have broken the Law to shivers–it is clear that you cannot keep
it. It is absurd and wicked for you to talk of doing so!
But you will try to do your best, you say. Well, then, if it is your
deliberate choice to come under the Law of God, let me tell you what
the Law requires of you. It says, "Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them."
That is all you will ever get out of the Law of God–a curse. You may
try to keep it till you wear the skin from your bones, but that is all
it will ever give you, for you have not continued in all things that
are written in the Book of the Law to do them, so your deficiencies and
your transgressions must inevitably bring a curse upon your head. I
pray you, if you are in your right senses, to have done with that old
Covenant of Works. There is no hope for you there, so get away from it
at once! You cannot be saved in that way, "for by the works of the Law
shall no flesh be justified." The Law brings sin to our knowledge as we
see what its demands are, but it never killssin. It never thinks
ofpardoningsin–it makes no provision for anything of the kind so, dear
Friends, let all your good works go– let all confidence in your
prayers–all confidence in your own repentance–all confidence in
anything that you can do or be–let it all go!
Do not retain a rag of it! If you do, it will be like keeping something
that is full of the seeds of disease and death. When a man dies of a
foul fever, or the plague, burn every rag he has had on him! "Oh, but I
would like to save that little piece of fringe–it is so beautiful!" It
will bring a pest into the house if you do. Burn it all! Get rid of it
all! So, let every rag of self-righteousness be destroyed. You cannot
take hold of the Covenant of Grace till you have, once and for all,
loosed your hold of the Covenant of Works!
"Well," you say, "when this is done, how am I to take hold of the
Covenant?" Well, the main plan is by believing in Christ Jesus unto the
salvation of your soul. Say, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. I am a sinner, Lord, and I lay hold on You, and trust You to
save me. I know that You bid burdened souls to come to You and I am a
burdened soul so, Lord, I come and I hang upon that gracious invitation
of Yours, 'Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.'"
"But may I lay hold on Christ," asks someone, "and trust Him thus?" You
had better ask me whether you may refuse to do so, and I will answer
you in His own words, "He that believes not shall be damned." Now, if
Christ pronounces condemnation upon the man who believes not, it is
clear that you may believe in Him! Oh, dare to do it! Dare to do it!
There never was one person yet who believed in Jesus Christ by
mistake–never one to whom Christ said, "You had no
right to believe in Me." He could not say so, for He has said, "Him
that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." Make a dash at it, then,
Man–lay hold on Christ and say, "If I perish, I will perish trusting
in His merit and His blood." And you shall never perish so, for He who
has laid hold on Christ has laid hold on God's Covenant and that
Covenant shall stand secure when earth's huge columns crumble! There is
no fear of the Covenant failing, even when Heaven and earth shall pass
away!
This is the way to lay hold on the Covenant by faith in Jesus. But I
have known those laying hold on the Covenant begin in different ways.
Some have laid hold upon it by a confession of sin–and you know that
the Lord has said–"He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but
whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy." I earnestly advise
any of you who are longing for salvation, to say, "I will confess my
sin and forsake it, for God has said that then I shall have mercy." You
know that if you get hold of the Covenant anywhere, you have got hold
of it, and you shall be saved. Do but confess your sin and forsake it,
looking to Christ alone as your Savior, and then you have secured a
grip of the Covenant!
Another way of laying hold of it is by seeking the Lord in prayer. It
is written, "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." Say, "Lord, I seek Your face. I cry to You, through Jesus
Christ, for mercy. I come to Your Mercy Seat and fall prostrate before
You, crying–
'If I perish, I will pray, And perish only there.
You have got a hold of the Covenant, Friend, because you are clinging
to God's promise and every promise of His is a part of the Covenant!
So, if you get a grip, by faith, of any of God's promises, so that it
becomes truly yours, you have laid hold of His Covenant and you shall
be saved forever!
When you have once accepted Christ, I like you to get a hold of the
Covenant in all sorts of ways. We have only two hands, but there are
some creatures that have a great many hands, or feelers, or
suckers–and when they want to be quite safe, they seize hold with all
their hands! Well, now, Christ has made a Covenant with His Church and
I like to lay hold of that Covenant by uniting with His people. I read
that He loved His Church and gave Himself for it, so I say, "Lord, I
will be a part of Your Church. I will, by Your Grace, put myself among
Your people. If they are laughed at, I will be laughed at with them. If
they are a despised people, I will be despised, too, and I will not be
ashamed of it. I will share with them now, hoping to share with them
hereafter–
"With them numbered I will be, Now and through eternity!"
It will be a great help to you to lay hold of the Covenant by availing
yourself of all Church privileges. That should be your motive for being
baptized. You should say, "Lord, I read in Your Word, 'He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved.' I wish, therefore, having believed, to
be baptized, that I may lay hold on that promise. I know that
Believers, when they are baptized in the true Scriptural fashion, are
buried with Christ. It is to them a type and symbol of their death to
sin and resurrection to newness of life. They do not trust in the
water, but they look at it as an emblem of their being buried to the
world–and I wish to be all that. I will take that mark of Your people
upon me and I will not be ashamed of it. I will go where Your people go
and I will follow You wherever You lead me for I have got a hold of
Your Covenant and I wish everybody to know that I have! I can truly
say, with Paul, 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' The
watermark is on me. I am buried with You, my Lord and Savior."
That is also the reason why we come to the Lord's Table–not that we
have any superstitious reverence for the bread and wine, but we say,
"Lord Jesus, You have told Your people to do this in remembrance of
You, and You have promised to give them a blessing in so doing. I mean
to do it, for I am in Covenant with You and what You bid Your servants
do, I, Your servant, would do, for, 'I am Your servant and the son of
Your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds and, be it little, or be it
great, I will be obedient to all Your commands, as far as I know them,
and so will take hold upon Your Covenant."
I like to see young Believers when they first take hold on Christ. I
sometimes think that they do it better than the older ones do, for they
just believe what Jesus says and take Him at His Word, and so they at
once get "joy and peace in believing." But, sometimes, older sinners
come and they say to me, "May we lay hold on Christ?" I ask them, "What
is to hinder you from doing so?" And they reply, "Because we are such
sinners." "Well," I answer, "the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to save
anybody but sinners, so you are just the right sort of persons for Him
to save." "Oh, but," they say, "there is nothing that is good in us!"
"But Jesus Christ did not come to call the good. He came to call
sinners, so you are
just the very ones whom He does call." "Oh, but," they reply, "we do
not feel as we ought to feel." "But Jesus Christ came to quicken those
who are dead in trespasses and sins–and there is no feeling while we
are dead. He came to give us life and to give us feeling–so you poor
dead creatures are just the right sort for Him to bless." So we try to
argue with them but they still keep on crying, "But, but!"–raising all
possible objections against themselves–yet, at last, they just dare to
put out their little finger to lay hold of Christ and the mercy is that
even a little finger contact saves! There was one who only touched the
hem of Christ's garment, but she was made perfectly whole!
The right thing for every sinner to say is just this, "The Covenant of
Grace exactly suits my case. Jesus Christ has come to save the guilty
and the needy–that is the sort of person I am, so I will lay hold of
His Covenant. I have got a grip of it and there I hang. If His Gospel
is true, I am a saved man! If it is not, I am lost, for I have nothing
else to which I can trust. On Christ, and on Christ, alone, do I hang
forever and ever. Sink or sail, I commit myself to this one boat which
God has built and furnished to cross the seas of sin and temptation.
And I believe that if it is but on a single plank or a broken piece of
that boat, I shall surely come safely to land, for Christ has said, "He
that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." Oh, that we might
all take hold of the Covenant in that blessed way! God help us to do so
by His gracious Spirit!
III. Now I want briefly to answer a third question. WHAT IS THERE TO
LAY HOLD ON?
I will tell you what I first laid hold on in the Covenant of Grace.
First, I laid hold on an atonement When I understood the meaning of
that blessed word, "Substitution"–Christ standing in the sinner's
place–Christ paying the sinner's debts that he might have a full
discharge–when I saw God laying my sin on Christ and I knew that a
thing cannot be in two places at one time–I said to myself, Then, if
God laid my sin on Christ, it is no longer upon me! If He took that
great mass of guilt which would have crushed me, and laid it on His
Son, there cannot be any reason for me to try to carry it, since He
carried it for me! So I first of all laid hold on the Covenant in the
fashion described in the verse we sang just now–
"My faith would lay her hands On that dear head of Yours, While like a
penitent I stand, And there confess my sin."
I believed that Christ died for me. I trusted Him and I found that He
died for all who trust Him. I knew, therefore, that He died for me and
that, in that death, He slew my sin and buried it, and that I was
forgiven all my transgressions. That is a fine place in which to lay
hold of the Covenant–that blood-red spot–and it just exactly suits
the sinner's crimson-dyed hands.
There is another place where you can lay hold of the Covenant and that
is the Mercy Seat. Go and bow before God in prayer. Christ being your
Intercessor, plead with God for mercy through His atoning blood and
then say, "I will never leave off praying till I get the blessing–
'With You all night I mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of
day'– but the blessing I must have, for You have promised it. Have You
not said, 'Ask, and you shall receive'? I ask. Have You not said,
'Seek, and you shall find'? I seek. Have You not said, 'Knock, and it
shall be opened unto you'? I knock, my God! I will knock and keep on
knocking. I will bring the door down sooner than go without the
blessing! I will knock, and knock, and knock till Heaven's high arches
ring with the sound of a poor sinner thundering away at the gate of
mercy! I will not let You go except You bless me." Ah, you have got a
hold of the Covenant and you are sure to be heard and answered! The
horns of the altar and the corners of the Ark of the Covenant are your
holdfasts upon the Covenant of God's Grace!
It is also a grand thing to lay hold of a promise in God's Word. I
recommend some of you who say that you have been seeking rest, but that
you cannot find it, to turn to some promise that just suits your
case–such as that great one in Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, "I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more." Open your Bible, put your finger
on that passage, and say, "Lord, I believe that this promise is made to
all who believe in Christ. I believe in Christ. I trust myself wholly
with Him–so this is a promise which You have made to me. Now, do as
You have said. I am altogether unworthy of such favor, but that does
not make Your promise to be of no effect. You have said it and You will
keep Your promise. It is a wonder, O Lord, that You should ever have
said,
'Come now, and let us reason together, said the Lord; though your sins
are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red
like crimson, they shall be as wool.' But You have said it, Lord, and
You will be true to Your promise." Hold on to that and never let it go,
for a hold on a promise is a hold on the Covenant! As the spokes of a
wheel all meet in the axle, so all the promises of God meet in the
great center of the Covenant of Grace made with Christ Jesus on behalf
of all His people.
There is one other thing which you should lay hold of and that is, an
invitation. If a man has an invitation to a feast and there stands
someone at the door who says to him, "You cannot come," he answers, "I
beg your pardon, for I can come in." "But, Sir, you cannot come in. All
the people who have entered have been good-looking people in evening
dress–you are not like they, so you cannot come in." But the man says,
"You will not be able to keep me out, for here is the invitation that I
received, asking me to come. There is my name and there is nothing
about good looks, or evening dress, so I mean to come in, for I have
been invited." I wish, dear Friends, you would do the same with your
doubts and fears–and with the devil himself when he says–"You cannot
come to Christ, you must not lay hold of the Covenant." Say to him,
"Look here, Satan. Christ has said, once and for all, 'Come unto Me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Now,
I labor and I am heavy laden–I have come to him, so I expect to have
rest given to me. I have come to Christ because I was invited to come!"
Then you can further say, "There is also that gracious Word of God,
'Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.' Now, I will! God
knows how willing and desirous I am to find salvation in Christ. I do
will it with all my heart and Christ's last invitation is, 'Whoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.'" Take any other
invitation that you please–there are plenty of them in the Word of God
addressed to just such persons as you are–and when you find one suited
to your case, say, "My God, I come to You at Your own invitation; can
You cast me out?" If anybody comes to your house by invitation from
yourself, you are in honor bound to take him in and do what you can for
him. And when you come to God, at His invitation, you have, in effect,
taken hold of His Covenant, for all the invitations of our Covenant God
are a part of that Covenant and are yes, and amen, in Christ Jesus!
IV. Now I must close with this last question. WHY SHOULD I NOT LAY HOLD
OF GOD'S COVENANT? I put the enquiry to all whom I am now
addressing–Why should you not take hold of God's Covenant?
One reason for doing so is this. Others, who are like yourself, have
done so. What sort of person have you been? Self-righteous? So was Saul
of Tarsus, but he cast aside his own righteousness and he laid hold on
the Covenant! And so he became the great Apostle of the Gentiles.
Perhaps I must look at you from another point of view. Have you been a
thief? Well, there was a thief who laid hold on the Covenant, and Jesus
said to him, "Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." Are you a sinner
fallen from virtue? There was a woman who was a public sinner and she
took hold of the Covenant, and her sins, which were many, were all
forgiven her! Whatever you may have been, there is somebody like you in
Heaven. If you have been a blasphemer, if you have lived to old age in
neglect of God, or whatever your sin has been, there has already been
somebody saved who was just what you have been and who took hold of
God's Covenant. If I, being a great sinner, see another great sinner
come, and take hold of the Covenant, why should you not do the same?
Then, next, out of all who have ever come to Christ, there has never
been one rejected. "Him that comes to Me," says Christ, "I will in no
wise cast out." Perhaps somebody says, "But suppose I am not one of the
elect." Christ says, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast
out," so election does not stand in the way. "Ah, Sir! But when I come
to Christ, I come with many doubts and fears." But Christ says, "Him
that comes to Me"–however he comes–"I will in no wise cast out."
There lives no sinner on earth that Christ ever cast out and there is
not in Hell a soul that ever came to Christ and Christ cast him
out–and there shall never be such an one! If the world should grow
gray with age and the sun should become black as a coal, there never
shall be a sinner who comes to Christ, who shall be cast out! So, come
along with you–if you do but come and take hold of the Covenant, that
Covenant shall save you!
Besides, I am sure you may come, my Friend, because you are the very
sort of character that is bid to come. "This Man receives sinners." Is
not that your name? Does not the Lord say, "Let the wicked forsake his
ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts"? Is not that you? Well, if
it is you, then come to Him! He calls you–you distinctly, for so He
describes you. So, surely, you may come to Him! I have often said that
if I had read in the Bible, "Charles Spurgeon may come to Christ,"
there was a time when I would have said, "That must mean somebody else
whose name is the same as mine. It is not meant for me." Then I would
have wanted to know his address and if it had been Nightingale Lane, I
would have said, "Ah, there was a man with the name of Spurgeon living
there, no doubt, years ago, so the promise may have been for him." I
would never have felt sure about the matter. But when it says, "Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners"–well, the devil is a great
liar, but he never tried to make me believe that I was not a sinner! If
he did, I would tell him I knew better than that. On the contrary, he
is often telling me what a sinner I am–and I am much obliged to him
for that, because, the more clearly he makes me out to be a sinner, the
more certain I am that I am one of those whom Christ came to save!
Martin Luther used to say, "This is true wisdom, to cut off the devil's
head with his own sword. When he charges you with guilt, reply, 'It is
quite true,' I am a sinner and, therefore, I am one whom Christ came to
save.'" We know that Christ gave Himself for our sins, but He never
gave Himself for our virtues, so we, having sins and iniquities, come
to Him as guilty sinners and He saves us from our sins!
The last reason I will give you why you should take hold of the
Covenant is that there is nothing else for you to hold to!There is
nothing else that you can take hold of but the Covenant of God's Grace.
Here is a man who hopes to get to Heaven because he has such blessed
feelings. Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear! How many times would I be without
any hope of getting to Heaven if I had to go by my feelings, for they
are just as wretched as wretchedness can be! Here is another man who
thinks he is going to Heaven because he has a sound creed, but the more
I read the Bible, the more I find that I do not know everything and
that there is something more to be learned and so, if my knowing
everything and having a perfectly sound creed must save me, I shall be
lost!
There are some who are hoping to go to Heaven because of this, and some
because of that, but, as for you and me, dear Friends, we had better
end all fancies and resolve, by God's Grace, that we will go there
because, "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief." So, casting everything else away, we lay hold of the Covenant,
come what may. God bless you, Beloved, and enable you to do so, for our
Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH31:31-34; EZEKIEL 36:25-32;
HEBREWS 8:7-13.
Jeremiah 31:31-33. Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will
make a new Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt; which My Covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto
them, said the LORD. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel; After those days, said the LORD, I willput My
Law in their inwardparts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be
their God, and they shall be My people. The old Covenant was written on
tablets of stone, but the Lord said concerning the new Covenant, "I
will put My Law in their inward parts." The old Law was hidden from
sight when it was written a second time and placed in the Ark of the
Covenant. And God says of His new Law, "I will write it in their
hearts." They were always rebelling against God and wandering away from
Him, but in this new, gracious Covenant, He says, "I will be their God,
and they shall be My people."
34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, said the LORD. God gives
to all His people a knowledge of Himself. "Whatever else they know or
do not know," said the Lord, "they shall all know Me." Though they
differ as to their growth in Grace, yet "they shall all know Me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, said the Lord."
34. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more. If God has pardoned your sins, you will be sure to know Him.
There will be no mistake about that point. Men shrink back and hide
away from an angry God punishing sin, for they do not care to know Him.
But when He comes forth, dressed in the silken robes of love to bestow
free pardons upon the chief of sinners, then they know Him! God grant
that all of us may have this blessed knowledge! Now kindly turn over
the leaves of your Bibles until you come to then 36th Chapter of the
Book of Ezekiel and the 25th verse, where you can read still further
about this same gracious new Covenant of Jehovah.
Ezekiel 36:25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall
be clean: from all your flthiness, and from all your idols, will I
cleanse you. "You would not cleanse yourselves! You even went back to
your idols, and so defiled yourselves still more! But I will cleanse
you. I have a wondrous stream, such as no river or spring on earth can
ever produce. It wells up from the heart of Jesus and this shall
cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols."
26, 27. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will Iput
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you an heart of flesh. And I willput My Spirit within you,
and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments
and do them. The old Covenant told us what to do and commanded us to do
it–but the new Covenant enables us to do it! Yes, it works in us that
obedience which we never could have rendered to the old Law, but which
the new Covenant gives to us.
28-31. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and
you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will also save you
from all your uncleanness and I will call for the corn, and will
increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit
of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no
more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall you remember your
own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath
yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your
abominations. How sweetly the mercy of God melts the human heart! How
graciously the goodness of God produces repentance! That blessed result
was never produced by the terrors of the Law–but it is continually
being brought forth by the loving kindness of the Lord as manifested in
the Covenant of His Grace.
32. Not for your sakes do I this, said the LORD GOD, be it known unto
you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, Ohouse of Israel The
Covenant is all of Grace, you see. Mercy is shown to the unworthy–not
for their own sakes, but for God's own Glory's sake. Oh, how sweet it
is to have a share in this blessed Covenant! Now turn to the Epistle to
the Hebrews, the 8th Chapter, and 7th verse, where you have still more
concerning the new Covenant.
Hebrews 8:7-13. For if that first Covenant had been faultless, then
should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with
them, He said, Behold, the days come, said the Lord, when I will make a
new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not
according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
because they continued not in My Covenant, and I regarded them not,
said the Lord. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I willput My Laws into their
mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to Me a people: and they shall not teach every man his
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all
shall know Me, from the least to the greatest For I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more. In that He said, A new Covenant, He has made the
first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
So the old Covenant has vanished away, with all its types, symbols and
sacrifices. As the morning mists dissolve upon the rising of the
sun–as darkness flies away when the light shines–so has the Covenant
of Works departed forever and, in its place, stands out the Everlasting
Covenant of God's unmerited mercy to the most guilty and vile of the
sons and daughters of men! May He graciously grant to us the privilege
of having an interest in that Covenant, for His dear Son's sake. Amen.