Private and Confidential

Private and Confidential

(No. 3428)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show
them His Covenant." Psalm 25:14.

THIS text is a great deep, but at the outset we must say that we have
neither the time nor the skill at this time to attempt to fathom it.
Our business just now is not so much to dive into its profound mystery,
as to skim over its sparkling surface, to touch it with our wing as the
swallow sometimes does the brook, leaving its soundings still
unexplored. The current of thought here is too deep and too broad for
the short meditation of a weekday evening. But where the very surface
is rich, as it were, with "dust of gold," we cannot fail, if God the
Holy Spirit blesses us, to be enriched by even the superficial
reflections we may gather up from it.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Mark the word
used–"THE LORD"–Jehovah in the original–the I AM THAT I AM. The very
name is associated in the thought of every right-minded person with
awe. Is it not the name of the one only living and true God, and none
who take it in vain shall be held guiltless? The gods of the heathen
are no gods, but our God made the heavens! It is by Him that the
heavens were stretched out as a curtain and as a tent to dwell in. He
is the Preserver of all things. In Him "we live, and move, and have our
being." As we find Him manifested, both in the book of Nature and in
the Book of Revelation, He is a God "glorious in holiness, fearful in
praises, doing wonders." The Lord is a good God, and we cannot think of
Him without awe. If you have ever heard His voice in pealing thunder or
the rolling avalanche, or if you have seen the flashes of His spear in
the lightning of the tempest, or if you have marked His going upon the
mighty waves at the tempestuous sea, you must have felt within
yourselves that He is high and mighty–in truth, a terrible God! Yet it
seems from our text that there are some persons in the world in whom
all emotions of dread in connection with God are suppressed by feelings
of quite another kind. Though clouds and darkness are round about Him,
they have evidently passed through the clouds and have come to the
other side of the darkness, for "the secret of the Lord is with them."
Before Him goes the pestilence. And hot burning coals are cast forth at
His feet, but these persons must evidently have been preserved from the
devouring pestilence by some mysterious power–and have escaped those
burning coals by some gracious deliverance! They have come into
familiarity with God! They know His secret and He shows to them what He
does not make known to other men–His Covenant–the counsel of His
will! There are such persons in the world, now, to whom the Eternal
Majesty is so tempered by Infinite Mercy that they can devoutly sing–

"The God who rules on high,

And thunders when He pleases,

Who rides upon the stormy skies,

And manages the seas.

This awful God is ours,

Our Father and our Love.

He shall send down His heavenly powers,

To carry us above."

Think of "the Lord," then, according to this grand revelation of His
name–Jehovah. Oh, that your thoughts of Him might bow you down with
the lowly worship of the bright cherubim, and make you veil your faces
as they do! Oh, that you might be led to feel how great God is and how
little you are! Oh, that Grace were now given you to draw near to God
and that the passage on which we have alighted might become a place of
communion with Him!

Observe, then, first of all, a glorious privilege which may be
possessed. Secondly, a favored class of people who do possess it. And
thirdly, a choice and peculiar manifestation which God makes to them.
I. THERE IS A GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE WHICH MAY BE POSSESSED.

The word, "secret," here might, with greater propriety, be translated,
"friendship." "The friendship of the Lord is with them that fear Him,"
but it also signifies in its root, that conversation which familiar
friends hold with each other. Conversation in its most cherished
exercise, that homely conversation which springs from mutual confidence
and is, on the part of one man, the unbosoming of himself to another,
is thus implied. If I may open it up in a phrase, it means, "The amity
of true friendship." Such is the favor vouchsafed to those who fear
God. But taking the word as it stands, (for I dare say the translators
weighed all these variations well before they chose the one before us),
we will endeavor to give amplitude to the sense, while we keep to the
word, "secret."

Beyond a doubt, then, those who fear God have the secret of His
Presence revealed to them. If a man rambles amidst the wonders of
Nature with an atheistic heart, he may look up to the snowy peaks and
down again upon the sweet grassy slopes. He may listen to the music of
the waterfall. He may stand and admire the eagle as it soars aloft, or
watch the wild goat as it leaps from crag to crag–and all these things
may be to him but so much animated Nature–matter in so many various
shapes and nothing more! I suppose it is possible for men to be
familiar with all that is beautiful and sublime in the world of Nature,
that "living visible garment of God," and yet never catch the secret of
His Presence, the traces of His handiwork, or the whisper of His voice.
How different it is with the man who fears God, who has bowed before
God's Justice and seen it satisfied through the atoning Sacrifice of
Calvary! Such a man, as he looks upon the things that are made, those
silent witnesses of the eternal power and Godhead, says, "My Father
made them all!"

"Not hear God?" he says, "I as distinctly heard God speak in the
thunderclap as I have heard my own father's voice!" Not see God? Why,
the veil seems thin that hides His glorious features while the works
shine transparent that unveil His wondrous attributes! So that to the
Christian it becomes a moral phenomenon that there should be people in
the world who can survey the gorgeous plan, the unfailing order and the
ample furniture, as it were, of this earth, with its wonderful
adaptation of the means to the end, and then peer upwards to the
heavens so grandly garnished, and contemplate the celestial bodies,
ever restless, ever orderly in their motions, yet fail to apprehend the
greatness, the wisdom, the goodness of the Creator! To us He is
apparent everywhere–

"These are Your works, Father of good, Almighty! Yours this universal
frame!"

He knows, he feels that fallen as he is, he can, while walking through
this world, commune with God as Adam did before Paradise was lost to
him. The secret of God's Presence is with them that fear Him. We have
heard of some who have said that they have never had any consciousness
of the existence of spirit. Very likely. Very likely. I do not suppose,
either, that pigs or asses, or any dumb driven cattle ever had any
spiritual apprehensions! But some of us have a very clear consciousness
thereof and, as honest men giving testimony, we claim to be believed.
No, what is more, we are certain that we have not only a consciousness
of the existence of spirit, but of a great and all-pervading Spirit we
have a like clear knowledge! We cannot be mistaken about it! We are as
sure that there is a God as we are that there is a world. No, sometimes
more persuaded of the one than of the other! It is a part of our real
consciousness. We have come to feel it, not merely in our imaginative
moods, but when all our faculties were in full play–the secret of the
existence of the pervading Presence of God is with us if we fear Him!
No, it is not only in the open fields, amidst the enchanting scenery of
the world, but much more in shady nooks and secluded places that we
have found that Presence!

Some months ago, I sat by the side of a woman who had not left her bed
for several years. It was in a sloping room at the top of a cottage.
The only walls were just the plastering that roofed it in. The room was
hung round with texts of Scripture, which she had painted as she had
been lying there. She was always full of pain–restless nights and
weary days were her constant lot. When I sat down to talk to her, she
said, "You cannot tell how the Presence of God has made this room seem
to me, Sir! It has been such a palace that I have not envied kings upon
their thrones when I have enjoyed the visits of Christ here. Though I
have not known a wakeful hour free from pain for years, I assure you
this chamber has been a very Heaven to me." She was not an excitable,
hysterical, silly, weak-minded woman. Far from that, she was as simple
and sincere a creature as you might have found in fifty miles' walk.
The daughter of an honest, smock-frocked laborer and his quiet, godly
wife. There was this poor woman declaring that God was ever in her
room. As I talked withher, I began to feel that her witness was true,
and to think that I had not felt more conscious of the Presence of the
Almighty among the baseless, boundless mountains, or upon the watery
plain of the vast ocean, where mighty waves in ceaseless concert roll,
or even in the midst of the vast congregation, when on the Sabbath our
solemn hymns, the outflow of feeling hearts, have swelled to Heaven
with music such as pleases well the ear of God! Thus I did then
perceive the mysterious secret of His Presence when I lingered by the
lowly couch of His suffering saint! Why, had some skeptic called in
there and merely suggested that "there is no God," we would have
laughed him to scorn, or else, perhaps, our pity for this ignorance
might have turned our laughter into tears. Truly the secret of God's
Presence everywhere is with them who fear Him. They trust Him, they
love Him, they lean upon Him and they get to feel that He is–and they
have communion with Him as a man communes with his friend!

And this secret of God's Presence leads to the discerning of His hand.
To the man who looks no higher than second causes, things that baffle
his shallow wits like a continued drought in spring, or heavy rain in
harvest, seem alike dreadful and bewildering. Though he cannot
understand, perhaps, the laws of fluidity, he is likely enough to
murmur at the dispensations that frustrate his conjectures. But the
Christian says, "I believe that God ordains every drop of rain, or
withholds every genial shower when He binds up the bottles of Heaven. I
can find philosophy in faith." And here he is right. It has well been
said, "There is more wisdom in a whispered prayer than in the ancient
lore of all the schools." And wonderful it is how this simple, silent
trust gives the Christian calmness and composure. At sea, when the
tempest rages and the billows roar, the man who knows of nothing but
the devouring element beneath and around him, full of alarm, may sigh
to the winds. But the Christian who firmly believes that God holds the
sea in the hollow of His hands and, that "all must come, and last, and
end, as shall please his heavenly Friend," waits the leisure of the
righteous God, commits his way unto Him, assured that He has control
over the storm and fulfils His great decrees unmoved by threatening
clouds or scolding winds. Faith feeds his fortitude! Listening with the
ears of faith, he constantly hears the footfalls of Jehovah. In the
loneliness of his sorrow, he catches a sweet whisper, saying to him,
"It is I, be not afraid." The Divine Presence and the Divine hand,
mysteriously hidden though they are, from all mortal eyes, are
discerned by such as live in fellowship with God, for "the secret of
the Lord is with them that fear Him."

Hence it is that the child of God carries on a secret conversation with
Heaven. See him on his knees–he talks with God, he pours out his heart
before the Lord. And in return–whether the world chooses to believe
it, or not, it is a matter of fact with us–in return the great
Invisible Spirit pours into the praying heart a stream of sacred
comfort, keeps it in its time of trouble and gives it to rejoice in its
moments of sadness. Oh, some of you are living witnesses that God talks
with men! Had you never talked with Him, you would not be qualified to
speak upon this question, but knowing that He hears you, and being
conscious that He also answers you and speaks to you, you can declare
and rejoice in the declaration that the secret of the Lord in this
respect is with you. Why, the Christian makes communications to God of
such a sort as he would not venture to make to his fellow men. I
consider the confession of sins to a priest most degrading to that
priest. To make his ear the common sewer of all the filth of a parish
is horrible–and for any man to tell his sin at all to another is
depraving to his own mind. But to tell it to God is a different matter,
to lay bare his bosom, to let its inmost secrets be exposed to the
great Searcher of Hearts, to pour out what one cannot say in words, nor
even perhaps convey with signs before the great eye which still sees,
the great Searcher who discerns it all–oh, this is blessed! Every
child of God can say, when he is in a right state, that there is no
reserve or disguise in the dealings of his soul with God! Is there a
care which I dare not cast on Him? Is there a sin which I would not
humbly and tearfully confess before Him? Is there a need for which I
would not seek relief from Him? Is there a dilemma in which I would not
consult Him? Is there anything so confidential that I may not divulge
to man, but which I may not breathe out to my God? Oh, when we are in
spiritual health, we do verily pour our hearts before the Lord to the
very dregs! We wear our heart upon our sleeve as we draw near to the
Most High. I tell Him all my woes and weaknesses, all my sorrows and
sins, likewise, so my secret is with Him. Then the Lord is pleased in
return to manifest Himself unto His people. He shows to His trustful
saints what He never shows to faithless sinners. When the sinner reads
the Bible, he sees only the letter–that is all he can see–but the
Christian sees the Spirit of the Word! He perceives that "within this
awful volume lies the mystery of mysteries"–and he is one of those–

"Happiest of the human race,

To whom their God has given Grace,

To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch to force the
way."

Thus he enters into the secret chamber of Revelation, while the
unconverted, the unregenerated, the unsanctified, stand in the outside
court and find no entrance within the veil. The heart of God is poured
out into the Christian's heart, so far as the Infinite can disclose
itself to the finite. And as we tell the Lord what we are, He is
pleased to tell us what He is. Surely, dear Friends, as these
intercommunications go on, it would be hard to say how richly the
inmost secrets of God may become known to His privileged people. Shall
I be understood if I say that man may know a great deal more than he
thinks he knows? He may know more of God than he knows he knows, for it
is one thing to know, and another thing to know that we know! Do you
notice how John says, "That we may know that we know Him"?–as if we
might know Him and yet be hardly able to recognize how much we know
Him. Now, many a time you have known the secret decrees of God, though
you have not known that you knew them. "Oh," you say, "how is that?"
Well, God decreed, purposed and determined to save such-and-such a
soul. You felt an irresistible impulse to go and pray for that soul as
you had never prayed before. You mentioned that particular person by
name before God and then you went out and exercised all the spiritual
Grace you had in order to bring that soul to the knowledge of the Truth
of God–and God blessed your endeavor and that soul was saved. Now, how
was this? Why, the secret purpose of God had been made to act
mysteriously upon you! You became God's instrument–His conscious
instrument in the fulfillment of it–and thus you were made privy to
the decree, though scarcely aware that you were so!

I think there is such a harmony between the feeling of Christians and
the purposes of God that you and I can never tell where these two
unite, or where they separate. It often seems as if the Lord said to
His people, "Now, I have ordained such-and-such things–in the volume
of My Book they are written–and you shall desire and purpose just such
things in your heart! And so the things that are in your heart shall
carry out the things that are in My Book–I will not let you know it so
as to go and tell it to others, but I will make you so know it that you
will go and act upon it! I will let the secret of the Lord be with
you." We know not how often God gives His people premonitions of what
He is about to do, nor how frequently! Unknown to ourselves, we take a
course of action which is precisely the right course, without our
knowing why we took it–only that we are led and guided by the Holy
Spirit into such a track. I believe that this is especially the case
with the ministry of the Word. I have sometimes been very sharply taxed
about this matter. I was, a few days ago, upbraided by a good soul for
exposing all her faults from the pulpit! I have been, not merely now
and then, but very often thought by some people to be so dreadfully
personal that they did not know how they could bear it–and yet I never
saw those people, except from the pulpit, and did not know anything at
all about them! The Word of God is quick and powerful, and "is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When, therefore,
we ask God to direct us in speaking His Word, it is no marvel that the
effect is searching! Ah, and did we always, with all our hearts, give
ourselves up to the motions of His Holy Spirit, we would be led and
guided in a mysterious manner which we, ourselves, would scarcely
understand–but it would make full proof of the fact that the "secret
of the Lord is with them that fear Him."

I will venture to say that the Christian gets to know more of God, of
the real Essence of God, by Divine Grace than all the philosophies in
the world could ever have taught him. I read of God that He is a loving
Father, that He is gracious towards the children of men. Now, if I fear
Him with a filial reverence, He disposes me, by His Grace, to love the
souls of men–He makes me tender and compassionate. Thus I get to
apprehend, by a devout sympathy, something of what His love, and
tenderness, and compassion must be. To meditate upon the attributes of
God is one means of seeking knowledge, but to be conformed to His image
is quite another way of understanding Him. Not till God makes you like
Himself can you know what He is! In proportion, then, as we grow in
Grace, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit more abundantly, we
shall be more and more admitted into the secret of the Lord. The day is
coming, Beloved, when we shall know more of God by our hearts–to say
nothing of our heads, which probably never will be able to find out the
Almighty to perfection–we shall know more of God by our hearts than we
ever thought it possible to know, because our hearts shall be filled
with Him! Everything obnoxious to Him shall be chased out and we shall
be like His only-begotten Son, dwelling in His Light and basking in His
Love forever! "The secret of the Lord," as to His very Character, "is
with them that fear Him." As they thus go from strength to strength,
their heart pulsates with a love like the Divine Love. Their souls
yearn towards sinners with a benevolence like the Divine Benevolence.
They begin to make sacrifices comparable, in kind, though not in
degree, to the great Sacrifice of God when He spared not His
only-begotten Son. Their hearts move. Theirspirits yearn. They cry over
souls, as God is said to cry over them. "How shall I give you up,
Ephraim? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim?
My heart is turned within Me; My repentings are kindled together."
Whenever God would picture Himself to us, He uses words suitable to our
nature. But oh, how passing wonderful shall it be when God shall be
seen in us, and we shall see God in ourselves–and so shall see God!
That blessed promise, "The pure in heart shall see God," is but another
rendering of our text–"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him." I wish it were in my power to explore this testimony of the Lord
more fully and expound it more clearly, but for the present I must
leave these few simple thoughts with you and pass on to observe that we
have–

II. A REFERENCE TO A FAVORED CLASS OF INDIVIDUALS.

A peculiar privilege is conferred on a peculiar people, for it seems
that the secret of the Lord is with some men, but not with others. Who
are they who possess this sacred gift? A great outcry has been raised
in this country of late about class and class interests. In our
manufacturing districts, particularly, the rights of the upper class,
who find the capital, and the claims of the working class, who bring
their skill and labor into the market, are paraded before us in hot
debates which often lead to an angry lock-out on the part of the
employers, or a sullen strike on the part of the employed. Such feuds
seldom bring much credit to either party. A great deal may be said
concerning some of each to their praise, and not a little concerning
some of both to their censure. So long as the struggle lasts, it must
cause much heart-burning. I would the day were come when all this class
talk was over, that we felt and acknowledged the common ties and mutual
obligations by which all men depend upon all men–each class being
dependent for its welfare and prosperity upon each other class, even
as–"God has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the
face of the earth." Still, there always will be a favored class. God
has so ordained it. But let me say they will neither be accepted
because they are rich, nor rejected because they are poor. The favored
class before the Lord has nothing to do with any position in society!–

"None are excluded then, but those, Who do themselves exclude. Welcome
the learned and polite, The ignorant and rude."

Neither has this secret of the Lord anything to do with education. It
is not with every Oxford graduate–it is only with a very few of them!
The secret of the Lord is not with every Cambridge M.A. nor with every
man who has taken his degree at any university. You may read the
Scriptures in the original languages. With Hebrew and Greek you may be
familiar. Excellent and profitable studies they are, but you cannot
discover the secret of the Lord by mere classical attainments. No
mathematical researches or astronomical observation can discover it to
you. In vain does one mount to Heaven and thread the spheres! Alike in
vain does another walk the earth and beg the old rocks to tell him what
happened before Adam held the lease of its broad acres, or tilled its
soil! No, it is beyond the province of human learning, as it is foreign
to the privilege of creature rank. Some people think that the secret of
the Lord is lodged in mystic rites and draped in gorgeous ceremonies.
There is among us a sect of ritualists who professes to have acquired
it. They pretend to derive it from some man in lawn sleeves who put his
hand on their heads! And if they cannot exactly communicate it,
themselves, yet they can communicate a great deal, for they affirm that
every little child sprinkled by them becomes, without more ado, a
member of Christ, a child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom of
Heaven! With their guild I have no fellowship–of their weird arts I
know little. Still, they say it is so–and it is all right with the
little ones, no doubt, if they die in infancy, for are they not buried
in consecrated clay? Listen to these gentlemen, these "successors of
the Apostles," these men who have "gifts" which empower them to declare
and pronounce absolution and remission of sins! Do you hear the Gospel
from them? Well you may from some of them, but then they tell you that
they do not believe in the literal construction of the words they are
paid to repeat, so they deliberately utter a lie! Or listen to others
of them. Do they give you the Gospel? No, they display themselves in
petticoats, embroidered vestments and such apparel as it were unlawful
to appear in, save only when they are acting in their ecclesiastical
theatres! You get no Gospel truth from them, nothing but priestcraft
from beginning to end! Were they honest, they would go at once to
Babylon, to Rome, to the Mother of Abominations, and consort with their
own kindred! Thus we say the rite of ordination confers no privileges,
and restrains no abuses! It does not teach a man the secret of the
Lord, for the best ordained priest in England may still be as ignorant
of God, our enemies, themselves, being judges, as if he had never been
ordained at all.

To whom, then, is it given to know the secret of the Lord, but to those
who fear Him and hallow His name? To be conscious that I have sinned,
to be humbled before God on account of it, to behold Jesus Christ as
the way of Atonement, to accept Christ as my Savior, to come to God,
blessing Him that I am saved through His dear Son–to feel a love to
God because of His Grace to me, to yield up myself to His service, by
His Holy Spirit to be led to live to His Glory–this it is to fear Him
and thus it is that His secret is with me! "Why," says one, "then the
secret of the Lord may be with any poor servant girl!" Bless the Lord
it may! "Oh, then," says another, "the secret of the Lord may be with
any humble workman, even though he is an illiterate and uneducated
man!" Yes, certainly it may! "Then," says yet another, "what becomes of
the priesthood?" Why, I answer, we are all made priests! If we fear the
Lord, we are admitted and initiated into the secret mysteries of
religion–we become instructed in the way of the Lord, the Holy Spirit
having promised that He will teach us all things, and bring all things
to our remembrance, whatever Christ has told us. Though we cannot claim
rank, nor wealth, nor diploma, we can yet humbly say, "The secret of
the Lord is with us, for He has taught us, by His Grace, how to live
upon Him, how to trust Him, how to serve Him." "The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him."

Do you answer to this description, my dear Hearers? Do you walk in the
fear of the Lord? Says one, "I am a member of a Dissenting Church." I
do not inquire about that, for it has nothing to do with the secret. Do
you fear God, I ask you? "Well," says another, "I have always done my
duty ever since I can remember, from my youth up." That is your duty
toward man, and it is well that you should never neglect it. But do you
fear the Lord? Is the Lord the subject of your thoughts, the object of
your love? And do you, therefore, revere and worship Him? If so, the
promise is yours and the privilege shall not be withheld from you. "I
want to know," says one, "which is right among all the contending
sects." Well, go to the Bible–search the Scriptures–yet not as one
who is proud of his own wits, but rather as one who fears the Lord
greatly and inquires at His holy oracle prayerfully. Then, although you
may not find every knotty point solved, or every quibble settled, you
shall surely find this saying good, "All your children shall be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children." Come to
the Lord for instruction and there is nothing in His Word which He will
keep back from you any more than from others, for "the secret of the
Lord is with them that fear Him." And come to the Lord for guidance and
you shall not be left in doubt what fellowship of Believers to join,
for, "it shall come to pass that in what tribe the stranger sojourns,
there shall you give him his inheritance, says the Lord God." The last
thing we have to notice is–

III. THE CHOICE AND PECULIAR MANIFESTATIONS WHICH GOD MAKES TO HIS
PEOPLE.

He will show them His Covenant. What a soft, sweet, encouraging
assurance this Covenant gives us! To see God in Covenant is to find
Grace in His eyes. To serve a Covenant God is perfect freedom and
exquisite delight. God out of Christ is a consuming fire. Luther was
known to say, "I will have nothing to do with an absolute God." The
fear with which we think of God is all terror, dread and fright–in
which we exceedingly tremble and quake until He unveils Himself in this
mellow light of the Covenant of peace! For what could the vision do but
scare me to destruction? But God, in the Covenant of His dear Son, is
the hope, the desire, the delight of everyone that is godly–and their
fear is not that of horror, but that of homage! What, then, does God
teach His people His Covenant? Much every way. He shows them that His
Covenant is everlasting. It was made in Christ before the world began.
It abides steadfast and will forever remain unchangeable. So sure is
it, that every blessing it provides is unconditional and irrevocable,
being entailed upon all those who have an interest in its gracious
provisions! He teaches them the fullness of this Covenant, that it
contains all that is necessary for the life that now is, and for that
which is to come. He teaches them the freeness of this Covenant–that
it was made with them in Christ Jesus, not because of their good works,
but because of the abounding of His Grace towards them. He teaches them
that this Covenant is not the result of their tears or vows, their
penitence or prayer, but that it is the causeof all these–ordered in
all things and sure, it comprises all that their needs could lack, and
all that their hearts could crave–it is all their salvation and all
their desire! The Lord then shows His people that this Covenant was
made on their behalf. Ah, there is the beauty of it!

Each one of the blood-bought trophies of mercy is led to see that the
Covenant was made with David's Lord for him. So each heir of Heaven
sets to his seal that God is true and makes David's saying his
own–"Though my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an
Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure." He also shows
His people that this Covenant is made with them by Sacrifice through
the precious blood of Jesus, wherein God smells a sweet savor of rest.
No Covenant could be of use to them, except it were a Covenant made
with blood and based on propitiation.

They understand that the old Covenant of Works failed because the first
Adam was not able to carry out his part of it. God spoke to Adam after
this manner, "If you will be obedient, you and your children shall be
happy." That, "if," proved fatal. Adam could not observe the condition.
The Second Covenant is on another footing. It was made with Christ. "If
You will be obedient, You and those in You shall be blessed." Christ
was obedient, He kept the Law. He suffered to the death His Father's
will–and we come, without an, "if," or a, "but," to inherit the
blessing which Christ has merited for us! Now it is no more, "If you do
this, I will do that." It is, "You shall do this and I willdo that." "A
new heart willl give you; and a right spirit willl put within you; you
shall repent of sin, you shall follow in My ways; you shall love Me;
you shall serve Me; you shall persevere in holiness; and I will bless
you." There is not an, "if," nor a, "but," nor a, "perhaps" to foul the
stream of God's loving kindness! The Covenant was made with every elect
soul in Christ beyond the hazard of a doubt, and beyond the chance of a
forfeiture!

Oh, Soul, has God ever shown you this Covenant? Do I hear anyone murmur
that it is a horrible Doctrine? Then I am quite certain he has never
been shown it. Or do I hear another affirm that were he to believe it,
he would live in sin? I think very likely he would. I do not doubt it.
To sin is your propensity, whatever you believe! But mind this, I do
not exhort you to believe in that which has never been revealed to you,
and has nothing to do with you. But yet another voice greets my ear–it
is that of a penitent who says–"I come to Christ just as I am. I
welcome the promise! I thank God there is now nothing left for me to do
in order to make the promise sure, or to make the Covenant fast! I am a
poor, lost, undone soul and throw myself at the foot of the bloody
Cross. I look up to the Savior and say, "Jesus, I trust You to save me.
I altogether trust You. I believe You have saved me–saved me in such a
way that I can never be lost, for the Covenant that was made with me
never can be broken and I shall never be cast away."

Surely, then, dear Friend, you have no wish to tamper with the lusts of
the flesh, or to wallow in uncleanness! The Doctrine does not instigate
you to live in sin! You would be a monster, indeed, if it did! No, you
will say, "If God has made a Covenant with me, saved me from the curse,
and endowed me with blessing–out of gratitude to Him, what is there I
can render to Him for all His benefits? Nothing shall be too hard,
nothing too heavy–

"'Lovedd of my God, for Him again With love intense I burn! Chosen of
Him ere time began, I choose Him in return.'"

Let slaves go and work under the rod of the taskmaster if they will!
Let the sons of the bondwoman pour contempt on the inheritance of the
seed of promise if they like, but a seed shall serve Him, and it shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation! The child of God has been
shown the Covenant–therefore he knows he shall never be cast out of
the family, for the love of the Father towards him will never change.
He cannot love us more–He will not love us less. Such love in Him
begets more love in us. What manner of men ought we to be in all holy
conversation and godliness! "The secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him, and He will show them His Covenant."

I can only pray that some hearts may be led to look to Jesus, that they
may discover the choice secret. Christ is not only a party to the
Covenant and the Representative of the Covenant, but He is the very
impersonation of the Covenant itself! "I will give Him," says the Lord,
"To be a Covenant for the people." Oh, if you have looked to Christ,
you need not despair! He is holy! He is true! He has the key of David
which can unlock the secret treasury in which are stored all Covenant
blessings. Fear Him! It is the beginning of wisdom. Trust Him! It is
the first breath of faith! Desire Him as newborn babies crave milk. Oh,
that the fear of the Lord may haunt you through the watches of the
night, and abide with you all the day long. So may the Lord bless you
now and forever. Amen.