Shutting, Sealing and Covering–or, Messiah’s Glorious Work

DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 24, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city,
to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision andprophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

Daniel 9:24.

The Lord God appointed a set time for the coming of His Son into the
world. Nothing was left to chance. Infinite Wisdom dictated the hour at
which the Messiah should be born and the moment at which He should be
cut off. His advent and His work are the highest point of the purpose
of God, the hinge of history, the center of Providence, the crowning of
the edifice of Grace and, therefore, peculiar care watched over every
detail. Once in the history of the world has the Son of God appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and this is the event before
which all other events must bow. The studious mind will be delighted to
search out the reasons why the Messiah came not before and why He did
not tarry till yet later ages. Prophecies declared the date, but long
before, Infallible Wisdom had settled it for the most profound reasons.
It was well that the Redeemer came–it was well that He came in what
Scripture calls the fullness of time, even in these last days.

Note, again, that the Lord told His people somewhat darkly, but still,
with a fair measure of clearness, when the Christ would come. Thus He
cheered them when the heavy clouds of woe hung over their path. This
prophecy shone like a star in the midst of the sorrow of Israel! So
bright was it, that at the period when Christ came, there was a general
expectation of Him! Holy men and women, diligent in the study of the
Scriptures, were waiting for Him–Simeon was waiting for the
consolation of Israel–and Anna looked for redemption in Jerusalem with
others of like mind. Not only the Jews, but the Samaritans expected
Him, for the woman at the well exclaimed, "I know that the Messiah
comes, which is called Christ."

Even in heathen lands there was remarkable cessation from stir and
battle; an unusual peace reigned over all the nations and the hush of
expectation ruled the hour–

No war, or battle's sound,

Was heard the world around–

The idle spear and shield were high up hung;

The hooked chariot stood

Unstained with hostile blood;

The trumpet spoke not to the armed throng;

And kings sat still with awful eye,

As if they surely knew their So vereign Lord was by. Men were looking
out for the coming One, for the corn of earth was ripe for the reaper.
Men were on the tiptoe of expectation and wondered when the promised
Prince would arrive. Alas, they knew Him not when He appeared! After
this fashion are things at the present moment with regard to the Second
Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Of that day and of that hour knows no
man," but it is known unto God and fixed in the roll of His eternal
purposes. "Known unto God are all His works from the creation of the
world," and especially those grand works which concern the Person of
our adorable Lord Jesus.

He shall come as God has appointed–the vision of His Glory shall not
tarry. He has given us suggestive hints as to that glorious appearing
and He has plainly taught us to be looking for and listening unto the
Day of the Lord. Among His last words are these, "Surely I come
quickly"–these are words of consolation as well of warning. He bids us
watch constantly for the coming of the Lord–that it overtake us not as
a thief in the night. And He assures us that He will descend from
Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of
God. Therefore comfort one another

with the glad tidings and whenever your hearts sicken because of
abounding sin, hear with the ear of faith the voice of promise crying,
"Behold, the Bridegroom comes." Rest assured that He comes who will, in
the fullest and most manifest sense, finish transgression and make an
end of sin–and bring in everlasting righteousness.

The advent of the Well-Beloved is the consolation of His mourning
saints. Both at His first and second appearing the Lord not only comes
to drive away the wicked as chaff, but also to comfort and exalt His
elect–it is a day that shall burn as an oven and yet, to the redeemed,
it will be the happiest day that ever dawned! The First Advent of our
Lord is spoken of, in our text, as ordained to be before the 70 weeks
were finished and the city should be destroyed. And so it was, even as
the Prophet had spoken. I shall not occupy your time by attempting to
fix the beginning and the end of the period intended by the 70 weeks
and the seven weeks and three-score and two weeks. That is a deep
study, requiring much research and learning, and I conceive that the
discussion of such a subject would be of no great practical use to us
this Sabbath morning.

You will be better nourished upon the Lord, Himself, than upon times
and seasons. Suffice it to believe that Jesus Christ our Lord, the
Messiah, came exactly as it was prophesied and remained on earth as it
was foretold He should do. In the middle of the predestined week He was
cut off, when He had completed three and a half years of saving
ministry. And within another period of like length, the Gospel was
preached throughout all nations and Messiah's peculiar relation to
Israel was cut off. At another time it may afford you profitable
contemplation if you consider the 490 years from the decree of the king
for rebuilding to the overthrow of Jerusalem.

We will, at this present hour, survey the work of the Messiah–that is
His Hebrew name, or of Christ, which is the Greek interpretation
thereof. Let us survey the work of the Anointed. Secondly, let us
inquire as to our participation in it. And then, thirdly, let us
contemplate the consequences which follow upon us being sharers in it,
or upon our not being participants in it. Oh for a measure of the
anointing, that we may fitly meditate upon our great theme! Come, Holy
Spirit and rest upon us!

I. First, let us survey the Messiah's work. According to my text, it
divides itself into two grand works, which two works subdivide
themselves, in each case, into three particulars. The first work of our
Lord Jesus Christ is the overthrow of evil and it is thus described–
"To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity." But our Lord's labor is not all spent
upon pulling-down work! He comes to build up and His second work is the
setting up of righteousness in the world, described, again, by three
sentences–"To bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the
vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

The first work of the Messiah is the overthrow of evil. This overthrow
of evil is described by three words. If I were to give you a literal
translation from the Hebrew, I might read the passage thus–"To shut up
the transgression, to seal up sin and to cover up iniquity." According
to learned men, those are the words which are here used and the three
put together are a singularly complete description of the putting away
of sin. First, it is shut up. It is, as it were, taken prisoner and
confined in a cell. The door is fastened and it is held in durance–it
is out of sight; held to a narrow range–unable to exercise the power
it once possessed. In a word, it is "restrained"–so the margin of our
Bibles reads it.

The Hebrew word signifies to hold back, to hold in, to arrest, to keep
in prison, to shut in or shut up. Its dominion is finished, for sin,
itself, is bound. Christ has led captivity captive. But it is not
enough to shut up the vanquished tyrant, unless he is shut up forever
and, therefore, lest there should be any possibility of his breaking
loose, again, the next sentence is, "To seal up." The uses of the seal
are many, but here it is employed for certainty of custody. Just as
when Daniel was thrown into the lions' den, the king sealed the stone
with his own signet and with the signet of his lords. Or, better still,
as when our Divine Master was laid in the grave, they rolled the stone
to the mouth of the sepulcher and His enemies set a seal and a watch,
lest His body should be stolen by His disciples.

In His case–

"Vain the stone, the watch, the seal,

Christ has burst the gates of Hell." But sin cannot thus arise. It is
imprisoned in the sepulcher of Jesus and it can never come forth, for
the royal seal of the Immutable God is set upon the door. Thus is sin
placed doubly out of sight–it is shut up and sealed up–as a document
put into a case and then sealed. "Finished," and, "made an end of," are
the two words used in our authorized version, and they give the essence
of the meaning. To borrow a figure from current events–Arabi, the
Egyptian rebel, is shut up

as our prisoner and his defeat is sealed, therefore his rebellion is
finished and an end made of it. Even thus is it with transgression–our
Lord has vanquished evil and certified the same under the hand and seal
of the Omnipotent–and, therefore, we may with rapture hear Him say,
"It is finished," and also behold Him rise from the dead to seal our
justification!

Yet, as if this might not suffice, the next term in the Hebrew is, "to
cover up," for the word to make reconciliation or expiation is usually,
in the Hebrew, to cover over. "Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Christ has come to cover sin, to
atone for it and so to hide it. His glorious merits and substitutionary
sufferings and death put away sin so completely that God, Himself,
beholds it no more. He has blotted it out, cast it into the sea and
removed it from us as far as the east is from the west! The two former
sentences speak of finishing transgression and making an end of
sin–and these expressions are full and complete–while this third one
explains the means by which the work is done, namely, by an expiation
which covers up every trace of sin.

Thus in the three, together, we have a picture of the utter extinction
of sin, both as to its guilt and its power, yes, and its very
existence! It is put into the dungeon and the door is shut; after this
the door is sealed and then it is covered up, so that the place of
sin's sepulcher cannot be seen anymore forever! Sin was, aforetime, in
God's sight, but through Christ Jesus we read, "You have forgiven the
iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin; You have taken
away all Your wrath." Sin was in God's way till Christ shut it up and
now it pushes itself no more into the sight of the Lord. Sin was always
breaking loose till Jesus sealed it up, but now it cannot come forth to
lay any accusation against the justified.

The three words might be put into one word by saying Christ has made a
clean sweep of sin of every kind. Whatever may be its special
development, whether it is transgression, which means the breaking of
bounds. Or sin, which is any lack of conformity to the Law. Or
iniquity–that is to say, inequity, or the lack of equity, a default in
righteousness. In all forms in which it can be described–Christ has
shut it up, sealed it up and covered it up by His atoning Sacrifice,
once and for all! The depths have covered it. If it is searched for, it
cannot be found! Our blessed Scapegoat has carried it away into the
land of forgetfulness–it shall not be mentioned against us anymore
forever. Those three words contain infinitely more of meaning than I
have either space or ability to set forth.

Observe, dear Friends, that the terms for sin are left in an absolute
form. It is said, "to finish transgression," "to make an end of sins,"
"to make reconciliation for iniquity." Whose transgression is this?
Whose sins are these? Whose iniquity is it? It is not said. There is no
word employed to set out the persons for whom Atonement is made, as is
done in verses like these–"Christ loved the Church and gave Himself
for it." "I lay down My life for the sheep." The mass of evil is left
unlabeled so that any penitent sinner may look to the Messiah and find
in Him the Remover of sin! What transgression is finished?
Transgression of every kind! But what sins are made an end of? Sins of
every sort–against Law and against Gospel, against God and against
men–sins past, sins present, sins to come! And what iniquity is
expiated? Every form of iniquity, whatever falls short by omission,
whatever goes beyond by commission!

Christ, in this passage, is spoken of in general terms as removing
sins, transgressions and iniquities in the mass. In other places we
read of the objects of His Substitution, but here all is left
indefinite to encourage all! He gives us no catalog of offenses–for
where should He write it? The very heavens could not hold the
enumeration! He takes the whole, unformed, horrible, black, disgusting
mass and this is what He does with it–He encloses it, fastens it up
and buries it forever! In the words of our version, He finishes it,
makes an end of it and makes expiation for it. The Messiah came to wipe
out and utterly destroy sin and this is, and will be, the effect of His
work! Put all the three sentences into one and this is the sum of them.

Indulge me for a few minutes while I take the sentences separately and
press each cluster by itself. And first notice that it is said He came
to finish the transgression. As some understand it, our Lord came, that
in His death, transgression might reach its highest development and
sign its own condemnation. Sin reached its finish, its ultimatum, its
climax, in the murder of the Son of God! It could not proceed
further–the course of malice could go no further. They had stoned the
Prophets and killed everyone that was sent to them. But now He came and
God said, "They will reverence My Son," but they did not. On the other
hand, they cried, "This is the heir! Let us kill Him and the
inheritance shall be ours." Sin finished itself when it brought forth
the death of the Son of God. It could produce no riper fruit, for no
supposable crime can exceed the putting to death of Jesus our Lord.

Now has sin finished itself and now has Jesus come to finish it. "Thus
far," He says, "you shall go, but no further: here in My wounds and
death shall your proud waves be stopped." Sin virtually committed
suicide when it slew the Savior, for His death became its death! The
kingdom of sin was overthrown in that day when it smote the Prince of
Peace! Then was a period put to the dominion of evil and, to come back
to the Hebrew, the Lord restrained transgression and Satan was bound
with a great chain. "The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now
commands all men everywhere to repent." Sin may no longer range
unchecked! Sin is now arrested and held under warrant, restrained under
the bonds of Law and, from the day of our Lord, by the preaching of the
Gospel, sin has become more and more shut up as to its reigning power.

Some men have been altogether delivered from the rule of evil and other
men, who remain its slaves, yet go not to such a pitch of outward riot
as they would have done had not Christ appeared. Sin is being besieged!
It skulks behind its earthworks. Its sorties are becoming fewer and
less forcible. And though it is still powerful, the hour of its pride
is passed, its head has received a deadly wound–the age has come in
which the victory of truth and righteousness is guaranteed by the death
of Jesus Christ our Lord! Your finis is written, O Transgression!
Written by the pierced hands! Your huge volume has in it writing long
enough and grievous enough, full enough of blasphemy against God and of
evil towards men, but now the Lord Jesus takes the pen from you and you
shall write no more as you have done. The huge leviathan of evil has
met its match and is placed under the power of the Avenger.

Thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will put My hook in your nose and My
bridle in your lips, and I will turn you by the way by which you came."
The Lord has set bounds to the transgression which aforetime broke all
bounds! Where sin abounded, Grace does much more abound! Sin is shut up
that Grace may have liberty. This is one part of our Lord's great
work–all Glory be unto His name–He has accomplished it with power and
the power of the enemy is broken!

Now take the second sentence, which, in our version is, "To make an end
of sin." Messiah has come to proclaim so free, so rich, so gracious a
pardon to the sons of men that when they receive it, sin virtually
ceases to be–it is made an end of. The man that is in Christ and has
Christ for His covenant Head, is, this day so delivered from all sin
that he may boldly ask the question, "Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect?" If Christ has made an end of sin, that is the
end of it–the matter is ended and no more is to be said!

Down among the dead, men let sin lie, forever buried by the right hand
of the conquering Savior. But the Hebrew has it, "to seal up sins."
Now, I take it to mean just this. There are certain handwritings which
are against us and they would be produced against us in court. But by
order of the Judge, all these handwritings are sealed up and regarded
as out of sight–no man dare breaks the seal and no man can read them
unless the seal is broken–therefore they will never be brought against
us. They have become virtually null and void. Everything that can be
brought as an accusation against God's people is now sealed up and put
out of the way, once and for all, never to be opened and laid to their
charge before the living God!

Or, if you regard sin as a captive prisoner, you must now see that by
Christ's death, the prison wherein sin lies is so sealed that the enemy
can never come forth, again, in its ancient power. Sin could once sit
on the highest mountain and look over the world and say, "All this is
mine." And the embodiment of sin could come to Christ and say of all
the kingdoms of the world, "All these will I give You," as though he
claimed them all for his own. But it is not so today! The mountain of
the Lord's house is, this day, exalted upon the top of the hills and
though, as yet, all nations do not flow unto it, yet a glorious company
comes streaming up to the Temple of the living God–and that company
shall increase from day to day! As when a brooklet grows to a stream
and the streamlet rises to a river, and the river swells till it rolls
in fullest force into the shoreless main, so is it yet to be with the
ever-growing Church of Jesus Christ, which, before long, shall carry
all before it and cover the earth with blessing.

Evil, you cannot reign! Jesus has come and overcome you, Himself, and
taught man to vanquish you! You cannot come, again, to the crown you
once had, for the Seed of the woman has broken your head! He shall
reign forever and ever and you shall die! Hallelujah! The coffin of sin
is both shut up and fastened down with the seal of Christ's victory!
But now, the last expression is in English. He has come "to make
reconciliation for iniquity," that is, to end the strife between God
and man by a glorious reconciliation–a making, again, of peace between
these two–so that God loves man and, as a consequence, man loves God.
In the blessed Atonement of Christ, God and man meet at a chosen
meeting place. Christ is Jehovah's darling and our delight. A slain
Savior is well-pleasing to God and oh, how pleasing He is to a sinner

who is deeply under a sense of sin! Here, here is that Mercy Seat
sprinkled with blood where man may speak to God without fear–and where
God does speak to man without wrath! Here Righteousness and Peace have
met together! Mercy and Truth have kissed each other! Oh, glorious
reconciliation which Christ has made by honoring the Law in His life
and in His death!

Now, take the Hebrew for it, and read the sentence thus–to cover
iniquity. Oh, what bliss this is! To think, dear Friends, that sin is
now, once and for all, covered! Not as though it lay rankling there
beneath some coverlet through which fire might burn, or lightning
strike, but Christ's covering is such that, if you could heap Hell over
sin, it were not so hidden! And if you could pile worlds upon it, were
not so concealed! And if all Heaven bowed to overlay it, it were not so
out of sight as when Jesus buried it deeper than the lowest depths,
where no memory can remember it, or mind perceive

it!–

"Our guilt shall vanish quite a way Though black as Hell before, Shall
be dissolved beneath the sea, And shall be found no more."

This is what is to be done with the whole kingdom of evil, as well with
the power of it and with the guilt of it. Dagon is to fall and to be
broken–and the very stump of him is to be demolished. As when the
darkness flies before the sun, not a trace of its blackness is left, so
is sin to be utterly destroyed from the redeemed of the Lord! It is not
merely the guilt of sin that is shut up and sealed and covered, but sin
itself, its power, its dominion, its habit, its defilement–the dread
that comes of it and the fear and the burning of heart which it
engenders. All the foul birds of sin's filthy cage must fly away, never
to return, chased away by the glorious work of Him who shall save His
people from their sins! For this the Messiah was cut off, and this, by
His death, is achieved–

"O love! You bottomless abyss!

My sins are swallowed up in thee;

Covered is my unrighteousness,

Nor spot of guilt remains on me.

While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies,

Mercy, free, boundless mercy cries!"

I fail to describe this triumphant overthrow of sin and Satan. I have
neither wisdom nor language answerable to such a theme. I invite you,
now, for a few minutes to consider the second work, namely, the setting
up of righteousness. This is set before us in three expressions–first,
in the words, "to bring in everlasting righteousness." And what is
that? Why, His own righteousness which is from everlasting to
everlasting and will never be taken way from those who have it and will
never cease to be their beauty and their glorious Jesus! The work of
Christ in His life and death is, by God, imputed to His people–indeed,
it is theirs because they are one with Christ! He is the Lord, their
righteousness, and they are the righteousness of God in Him. Saints are
so righteous in Jesus Christ that they are more righteous than Adam was
before he fell, for he had but a creature righteousness, but they have
the righteousness of the Creator–Adam had a righteousness which he
lost–but Believers have a righteousness which they can never lose, an
everlasting righteousness!

Nor is that all the meaning of our text–those to whom God imputes
righteousness, to them, also, He imparts righteousness. He makes them
pure in heart. He changes their desires. He makes them love that which
is right and just and good and so He gives them Grace to lead godly,
sober, honest and holy lives! This righteousness shall not be crushed
out of them, for the work of the Spirit shall continue until they shall
become perfect and be meet to dwell with God in His Light. Happy are
those spirits to whom Christ gives an everlasting righteousness, for
theirs is the Kingdom of God and in it they shall shine forth as the
sun! They are right and they shall be right! They are true and they
shall never degenerate into falsehood! They are God's own children and
they shall go on to develop the image of Christ, their elder Brother,
till they shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing! This
Christ came to do–He imputes and imparts righteousness and thus brings
in everlasting righteousness as the foundation of His Kingdom.

Next, in order to the setting up of a Kingdom of righteousness, He is
come that He may, "seal up vision and prophecy." That is, by fulfilling
all the visions and the prophecies of the Old Testament in Himself, He
ends both prophecy and vision. He seals up visions and prophecies so
that they shall no more be seen or spoken. They are closed and no man
can add to them and, therefore–and that is the point to note–the
Gospel is forever settled, to remain eternally the same!

Christ has set up a Kingdom that shall never be moved. His Truth can
never be changed by any novel revelation. If any man comes to you and
says, "I am a Prophet!" bid him go and find believers among the
foolish, for, to you, Jesus has sealed up prophecy and vision and there
is to be no more of it. There is no need of it, because in Christ, God
has spoken all He means to say concerning the way of salvation. Until
such time as Christ Himself shall come, the canon is complete, and
though there are many voices crying, "Lo, here!" and, "Lo, there!" and
some so fascinating that they might deceive, if it were possible, the
very elect, yet those whom Christ has chosen know the Shepherd's voice
and, "a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of
strangers."

Brothers and Sisters, there was always something better yet to come in
all times till Christ arrived, but after the best, there comes none. A
certain philosopher taught this; the next philosopher taught that and
the next one contradicted this and that and taught another thing–while
another master arose and contradicted all who went before. So man
groped, as in the dark, for the wall, but now, the day has dawned and
the true Light of God shines, for Christ has appeared! This, then, is
an essential part of the setting up of that which is good–namely, to
settle truth on a fixed basis whereon we may stand steadfast and
immovable. The candles are snuffed out because the day, itself, looks
out from the windows of Heaven. Rejoice in this, Beloved! God makes you
righteous in Christ and with Christ, and in order that you shall never
be perplexed with change, He sets aside all other teachers, that Christ
may be your All in All!

Then, as if this were not enough, and truly it would not be enough, He
is also come to anoint the Most Holy, or the Holy of Holies, as you may
read it. And what doe this means? Nothing material, for the Holy of
Holies, the place into which the High Priest went of old, is
demolished, and the veil is torn in two. The Most Holy place is now the
Person of the Lord Jesus Christ! He was anointed that God might dwell
in Him. Together with Christ, the Holy of Holies is now His Church and
that Church was anointed or dedicated when the Holy Spirit fell at
Pentecost, to be with us and to abide in us forever. That was a noble
part of the setting up of the great Kingdom of Righteousness, when
tongues of fire descended and sat upon each of the disciples and they
began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

This is Christ's work, for which He came and for which He ascended on
high, to set up the Truth of God, to set up righteousness and to make
it everlasting by the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church of God
in the midst of the sons of men. Thus you see, in six ways, which
condense themselves into two, our Lord set about His lordly enterprise.
Heaven rings with the praises of the Messiah who came to destroy the
work of sin and to set up the Kingdom of Righteousness in the midst of
the world!

II. Let us now inquire as to our participation in these two works. I
will put a few questions as briefly as I can, and I pray God, the Holy
Spirit, that every one of us may honestly answer them. First, dear
Brothers and Sisters, Christ has come into the world to do all this
good work, but has He done it for us? "God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son." What for? "That whoever believes in Him
might not perish." There is a general aspect to the Atonement, but
there is quite as surely a special objective in it. God loved the world
and, therefore, He gave His Son. But to what end did He give His Son?
Here is the answer, "That whoever believes in Him might not perish, but
have everlasting life."

There was a special eye to Believers. Come, then, have you believed?
The first question that is to help you to answer that inquiry is
this–Is your sin shut up as to its power? "Sin shall not have dominion
over you" if Christ is in you. How is it between your soul and evil? Is
there war, or peace? Once you loved sin–you could not have enough of
it. Is it so now? Do you still delight in evil? For if you do, the love
of God is not in you! Can you still put forth your hand to iniquity as
you once did? Then do not pretend that Christ has done anything for
you! If you are a Believer, your sin may not be absolutely dead, but it
is shut up for dead–it is held fast in the condemned cell. It may
still breathe, but it is crucified with Christ!

How it tugs to get its hands loose from the nails! How it struggles to
get its feet down from the tree! But it cannot, for He that nailed it
there knew how to drive nails and how to fasten the offender to the
tree. Do you begin to grow weary of iniquity? Is it distasteful and
unpleasant to you? And, when looking over the day, you perceive where
you have spoken unadvisedly or acted hastily, or in any other way
soiled your character–do you feel as if you would gladly wash out
every spot with tears? If it is so, Christ has begun with you–He has
come to shut up your sin and to end its reign– it shall no more have
dominion over you. It may be in you, but it shall not be on the throne!
It may threaten you, but it shall not command you! It may grieve you,
but it shall not destroy you! You are under another Master–you serve
the Lord Christ. Judge for yourself how this matter fares with you.

The next question arising out of the text is, Is your sin sealed up as
to its condemning power? Have you ever felt the power of the Holy
Spirit in your soul, saying to you, "Go in peace; your sins, which are
many, are all forgiven you"? Have you clutched that promise, "He that
believes in Him is not condemned"? Have you believed in Jesus? Has that
blessed Word of God, "There is therefore now no condemnation," breathed
a deep calm over your spirit? Some of you do not know what I mean, but
others of you do. Oh, what bliss, what a Heaven it is to know, "I am
washed in the blood of the Lamb! I am delivered, clean delivered from
every sin–past, present and to come–as to any possibility of its
being laid to my charge! Christ has put my sins into a bag, sealed them
up, hurled that bag into the sea and flung them out of existence! They
are gone, never to be found again, ever!"

He has made an end of sin. Come, dear Hearer, do you know anything
about this? If you do not, it is the one thing you need to know and,
until you know it, you will never have any rest to your spirit, but you
will be tossed to and fro as upon a raging sea. "There is no peace,
says my God, to the wicked." There is no peace to any of us till Christ
has made an end of our sin! How is it with your hearts? And next, is
your sin covered as to its appearance before God? Has the Lord Jesus
Christ made such an expiation for your sin that it no longer glares in
the Presence of the Most High, but you can come unto God without dread?
Can you hopefully say, "Lord God, You see no sin in me, for You have
covered me with the righteousness of Christ and washed me in His
blood"? Did you ever feel the sweetness of that? It is rapture! I can
remember times when I have been driven to doubt whether it could be
true, it seemed too good–and then again, when my faith has revived, I
have said–"Good as it is, it is true, for it is like God to do these
great marvels and to put away the sins of His people and cover them
once and for all."

Oh, then there has been a joy within my spirit not at all like the joy
of harvest, or the joy of marriage, or the joy of a first-born child in
the house. No! It is a joy like the bliss of angels, deep, unspeakable,
mysterious, Divine! Have you ever felt it? You will feel it constantly
if Christ comes to dwell with you! You will, then, be assured in your
heart that He has made an end of your sin. Further, let me question you
about the next point. Has the Lord Jesus Christ made you righteous? Do
you Glory in His blood and righteousness and do you now seek after that
which is pure and holy? "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." If we continue in sin,
we shall perish in sin. He is saved who comes out from evil and seeks
to live honestly, righteously, soberly after the manner of the godly
and the saintly. Is it so with you? Is there a great and deep change in
your spirit, so that you now love those good things which once you
despised and ridiculed in others? Oh, if you cannot answer my poor
questions, how will you stand before the Judgment Seat of God when He
shall test you as with fire?

Furthermore, are the prophecies and visions sealed up as to you? Are
they fulfilled in you? When God declares that He will wash us and make
us whiter than snow, is it so with you? When He declares that He will
cleanse our blood, which has not yet been cleansed, is it so with you?
When He says, "A new heart, also, will I give them, and a right spirit
will I put within them: and I will write My Law upon their hearts"–is
it so with you? Are you fishing about after empty dreams and fancies,
or have you laid hold upon the old prophecies and the ancient visions
and discovered the substance of them to be deeply worked in your very
heart?

Nor is this all–are you anointed to be most holy to the Lord? Are you
set apart that you may serve Him? Has the Holy Spirit come upon you,
giving you a desire to do good? Have you a wish to rescue the
perishing, a longing to bring the wandering sheep back to the great
Shepherd's fold? Is the Spirit of God so upon you, today, that you can
truly say, "I am not my own; I am bought with a price"? Jesus, the
Messiah, came to do all these things and if He has not done them to
you, then He has not come to you–you are still a stranger, still far
off from Him! Oh, may the Lord make you desperately unhappy till you
come to Jesus! May you never know what quiet means till you find it at
the pierced feet! From this hour may you breathe sighs and may every
pulse be a new agony of spirit, till, at last, you can say, "Yes, the
Messiah was cut off, and cut off for me, and all that He came to do He
did for me, and I am a sharer and a partaker in it all."

III. Lastly, we have but a brief interval in which to speak of the
results of participating in all this. The results! I need a week to
speak of them! They are, first of all, security. How can that man be
lost whose transgression is finished and whose sin has ceased to be?
What is there for him to dread on earth, in Heaven, or in Hell? If
Christ has put away my sin, I cannot die! If Christ has washed away my
guilt, I cannot be condemned! I am safe and may triumphantly sing–

"More happy, but not more secure, The glorified spirits in Heaven!"

Therefore, rejoice in this!

And now, inasmuch as you are secure, you are also reconciled to God and
made to delight in Him. God is your Friend and you are one of the
friends of God! Rejoice in that hallowed friendship and live in the
assurance of it! Now you have the anointing, do not doubt it! Christ
has made it yours by His death. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon you;
you are fit for service; set about it without further question. The
anointing is upon you; you are most holy to the Lord; so let your life
be wholly consecrated. Your heart ought to be, and shall be, by the
Spirit's power, as holy as that innermost shrine into which no
unauthorized foot ever intruded–into which only once in the year the
High Priest went–and then not without blood. God dwells in you, and
you in God! Oh, blessed consequences–you shall soon dwell with Him
forever!

But now, suppose when I put the question, you had to shake your head
and say, "No, it is not so with me"? Then hear these few sentences. If
the Messiah has not done this for you, then your sin will be finished
in another way–sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. An awful
death awaits you–death unto God, purity and joy. Woe, woe, to you!
Death, on the pale horse pursues you, and will overtake you soon! Then
will one woe be past, but another will follow it. If Christ has never
made an end of your sin, then mark this, your sin will soon make an end
of you and all your hopes, your pleasure, your boasts and your peace
will perish! Oh, terrible end of all that is hopeful within you! You
shall be a desolation forever and forever!

Has Christ not reconciled you? Then mark this, your enmity will
increase! There is no peace between God and you, now, but soon will the
war begin in which He must conquer and you, never yielding, will
continue forever more to hate God and to find in that hate your utmost
torment, your fiercest Hell! Have you never had the righteousness of
Christ brought in? Then mark this, your unrighteousness will last
forever! One of these days God will say, "He that is unholy, let him be
unholy, still: He that is filthy, let him be filthy, still." That will
be the most awful thing that can ever happen to you! You have heard of
the fable of Medusa's head–whoever looked upon it, when it was held
up, was turned to sto-ne–and one day, Sinner, you shall look at
Death–and it will petrify your character so that it shall be forever
what it is when death came to you! Where death finds you, there
judgment shall find you, and there eternity shall leave you! Oh,
wretched Soul, to have nothing to do with the everlasting righteousness
of Christ! Are not the prophecies fulfilled in you, the prophecies of
mercy? Then listen! The prophecies of woe will be written large across
your history. "The wicked shall be turned into Hell, with all the
nations that forget God." Beware, you that forget God, lest He tear you
in pieces and there be none to save you!

I will not detain you with many such words of terror, but through the
Old Testament they roll like peals of thunder, nor is the New Testament
less stern towards him that goes on in his iniquity and will not turn
to the Christ. Lastly, will you never be anointed to be most holy? Then
remember, holiness and you will stand at a distance, forever–and to be
far off from holiness must necessarily be to be far off from Heaven and
happiness! Sin is misery. In it lies both the root and the fruit of
eternal woe. Purity is paradise–to be right with God is to be right
with yourself and all created things! But if you will not be holy, then
you must, by force of your own choice, be forever tossed about upon the
restless sea of wretchedness! God save you, Brothers and Sisters! God
save you for Christ's sake! Amen.
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