1889. The Blood Of Sprinkling (Continued)

No. 1889-32:133. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, February 28, 1886, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

You are come … to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who speaks. {Heb 12:24,25}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 211, “Voice of the Blood of Christ, The” 204}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 708, “Blood of Abel and the Blood of Jesus, The” 699}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1689, “General Convocation Around Mount Zion, The” 1690}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1888, “Blood of Sprinkling, The” 1889}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1889, “Blood of Sprinkling, The” 1890}
   Exposition on Heb 12 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3111, “Warning and Encouragement” 3112 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 12 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3206, “Church of the Firstborn, The” 3207 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Heb 12 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3492, “God’s Word Not to be Refused” 3494 @@ "Exposition"}
   {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Heb 12:25"}

1. In the former part of this sermon the text grew upon me so largely that it was quite impossible to express all its meaning. In as condensed a manner as possible I explained what was meant by “the blood of sprinkling,” and I also enlarged upon the high position which this precious blood occupies in the gospel age; but I was obliged to leave for this second occasion two practical questions which the text is sure to raise if it is carefully thought upon.

2. The doctrinal portion of our meditation was greatly blest to our hearts, for God the Holy Spirit refreshed us by it: may he now fulfil his sacred office with equal power, by revealing the things of Christ to us in a way which shall cause self-examination, and arouse us to give more earnest heed than ever to the voice of him who speaks from heaven. No theme can excel in value and excellence than that of the precious blood of Jesus. Unless the Holy Spirit shall prepare our hearts, even with such a topic as this before us, we shall not profit; but if he will show these choice truths to us, we shall be comforted, quickened, edified, and sanctified by them.

3. It is a considerable disadvantage for some of you that you have not heard the former part of the sermon; but I hope you will read it at your leisure, and then, if you read this in connection with it, the whole subject will be before you. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1888, “The Blood of Sprinkling” 1889} Not that I can set it all out in words: I only mean that it will be before you as the ocean is before us when we sit on the beach, or as the heavens are before us when we gaze upon Arcturus with his sons. Finite language fails to convey the infinite; and if ever there was a text which deserved to be called infinite, it is what is the one now before us.

4. Having touched, as with a swallow’s wing, the surface of our great theme under the first division of the sermon, I now have to speak with you upon the second, which is this: Where are we with reference to this blood of sprinkling? The text says, “You are come.” We are not come to Mount Sinai, but we are come to Mount Zion; to angels and their God; to saints and their Mediator, and to the blood of sprinkling. This having had its share of our thoughts, we are to conclude with the question, What then? If we have come to this blood of sprinkling, what then? The answer is, “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.” Let us give to the wondrous truths revealed to us by the sacrifice of Jesus the most earnest heed, so that our souls may hear and live. May the Holy Spirit enable us to hear the heavenly voice at this hour! “Faith comes by hearing”; may it come at this time by our reverently hearing the voice of the blood of sprinkling!

5. II. My business under the second point of my discourse is to answer the question, WHERE ARE WE? I have to explain what is meant by the expression which is found in the twenty-second verse of the chapter “You are come.” Link the twenty-second verse with this twenty-fourth, and read, “You are come to the blood of sprinkling.”

6. Well, first, you are come to the hearing of the gospel of the atoning sacrifice. The Israelites left Egypt, and, having passed the Red Sea, they entered the desert, and at length came to the mount of God, even to Sinai, that terrible mountain. In the valley around that throne of God they were gathered together in their thousands. What a sight that vast multitude must have been! Probably two million or more were encamped before the mount. Then, “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir to them; he shone out from Mount Paran; and he came with ten thousand of his saints; from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” Israel crouched in the valley below, subdued by the terrible majesty of the scene, and overawed by the trumpet voice which pealed out from the midst of the thick darkness. The Lord spoke with them, but their uncircumcised ears could not bear his glorious voice, and they entreated that Moses might act as mediator, and speak in God’s place.

7. You and I have not come to such a terrible sight at this hour. No quivering mountain smokes before you, no terrible lightnings appal you, no thunders distress you.

   Not to the terrors of the Lord,
      The tempest, fire, and smoke;
   Not to the thunder of that word
      Which God on Sinai spoke:
   But we are come to Zion’s hill
      The city of our God,
   Where milder words declare his will,
      And spread his love abroad.

8. Among the great things which you are called upon to consider under the gospel is “the blood of sprinkling.” Consider yourselves happy that you are privileged to hear about the divinely-appointed way of reconciliation with God. You are come to hear, not about your sin and its doom, not about the last judgment and the swift destruction of the enemies of God; but of love for the guilty, pity for the miserable, mercy for the wicked, compassion for those who are out of the way. You are come to hear about God’s great expedient of wisdom, by which he, by the same act and deed, condemns sin, and lets the sinner live; honours his law, and yet passes by transgression, iniquity, and sin. You are come to hear, not about the shedding of your own blood, but about the shedding of his blood who, in his infinite compassion, condescended to take the place of guilty men — to suffer, that they might not suffer, and die, that they might not die. Blessed are your ears, that they hear about the perfect sacrifice! Happy are your spirits, since they are found where free grace and boundless love have presented a great propitiation for sin! You are divinely favoured to live where you are told about pardon freely given to all who will believe in the name of the Lord Jesus, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You hear at this hour not law, but gospel; not the sentence of judgment, but the proclamation of grace. “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.” It is no little thing for the kingdom of God to have come so near to you. Awaken to a sense of your privilege: you do not sit in heathen midnight, nor in Popish gloom, nor in Jewish mist; but day has dawned on you: do not refuse the light.

9. In a better sense, going a little further, we have not only come to the blood of sprinkling by hearing about it, but also we have come to it because the great God now deals with us upon methods which are founded and based upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ. If God were to deal with us on the terms laid down at Sinai, he need not be long in finding the “two or three witnesses” to prove that we have broken his law. We ourselves should be compelled to plead guilty; no witnesses would be required. Truly, he has not dealt with us according to our sins. We are so faulty that we can draw no comfort from the prospect of judgment by law; we appeal to mercy alone; for on any other basis our case is hopeless. “Do this, and you shall live” is a covenant which brings us no ray of comfort; for its only word to us is that thunderbolt — “The soul that sins, it shall die.”

10. By the works of the law no one can be justified, for by that law we are all condemned. Read the Ten Commandments, and pause at each one, and confess that you have broken it either in thought, or word, or deed. Remember that by a glance we may commit adultery, by a thought we may be guilty of murder, by a desire we may steal. Sin is any lack of conformity to perfect holiness, and that lack of conformity is justly chargeable upon every one of us. Yet the Lord does not, under the gospel age, deal with us according to law. He does not now sit on the throne of judgment, but he looks down upon us from the throne of grace. Not the iron rod, but the silver sceptre, is held over us. The longsuffering of God rules this age, and Jesus the Mediator is the gracious Viceroy of the times. Instead of destroying offending man from off the face of the earth, the Lord comes near to us in loving condescension, and pleads with us by his Spirit, saying, “You have sinned, but my Son has died. In him I am prepared to deal with you in a way of pure mercy and unmingled grace.”

11. Oh sinner, the fact that you are alive proves that God is not dealing with you according to strict justice, but in patient forbearance; every moment you live is another example of omnipotent longsuffering. It is the sacrifice of Christ which arrests the axe of justice, which otherwise must execute you. The barren tree is spared because the great Dresser of the vineyard, who bled on Calvary, intercedes and cries, “Leave it alone for this year also.” Oh my hearer, it is through the shedding of the blood and the mediatorial reign of the Lord Jesus that you are at this moment on praying ground and pleading terms with God! Apart from the blood of atonement you would now be past hope, shut up for ever in the place of doom. But see how the great Father bears with you! He stands prepared to hear your prayer, to accept your confession of sin, to honour your faith, and to save you from your sin through the sacrifice of his dear Son.

12. Through our Lord Jesus sovereign grace and infinite love find a free way to the most undeserving of the race. Through the divine sacrifice the Lord says, “Come now and let us reason together: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”; “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” So the rebel is treated as a child, and the criminal as a beloved one. Because of that death on Calvary’s cruel tree, God can invite guilty men to come to him, and he can receive them to the bosom of his love. Oh my dear hearers, do remember this! I am not sent to scold you, but to woo you, not sent to thunder at you, but to let the soft cleansing drops from the heart of Jesus fall upon you. I plead with you not to turn away, as men may well do when the news is bad; but listen diligently, for the message is full of joy. You are now in the house of prayer, addressed by one of the Lord’s ambassadors, and the news is about peace through a propitiation which God himself has provided and accepted. We do not cry to you, “Prepare for vengeance”; but we proclaim, “a God ready to pardon.” We do not threaten that he will no more have mercy upon you; but we tell you that he waits to be gracious. If I had to say, “You have provoked him beyond measure, and he now intends to destroy you,” what a miserable man I should be! How could I bring such bad news to my fellow creatures? Then it would have been woe to me that my mother bore me for so harsh a fate. Thank God, it is not so. By virtue of the blood of sprinkling the language of boundless love is heard among our apostate race, and we are entreated to acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace.

13. No, my hearer, the day of grace is not over: you are not come to Sinai. No, you are not yet condemned past all hope; for you are still within reach of Jesus the Mediator. There is forgiveness. The fountain which was opened of old for sin and for uncleanness is still open. If you have sinned like David, if you will only accept the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, I am able to speak to you as Nathan did to the guilty king, and say, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” At any rate, God is dealing with you now on gospel terms; he sits on Zion, not on Sinai; he pronounces invitations of grace, and does not utter the stern sentence of justice.

14. Further, there is a far more effective way of coming to the blood of sprinkling than this — when by faith that blood is sprinkled upon our souls. This is absolutely needed: the blood shed must become to each one of us the blood sprinkled. “How can I know,” one says, “that the blood of Christ is upon me?” Do you trust yourself with Christ? Do you believe that he made an atonement on the cross; and will you venture your eternal destiny on that fact, trusting in what Jesus did, and in that alone? If you do trust like this, you shall not trust in vain. Do you apply your heart to the precious blood of Jesus? Then that precious blood is applied to your heart. If your heart bleeds for sin, bring it to the bleeding heart of Jesus, and it shall be healed. I showed, in the early part of this discourse, that the blood sprinkled on the lintel and the two side-posts of the door preserved the Israelites on the night of the Passover: it shall also preserve you. The blood sprinkled upon the defiled made them ceremonially clean: it shall cleanse you. Have I not often quoted those blessed words: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin?” That blood sprinkled on the sons of Aaron dedicated them to God; and if it is applied to you, it shall consecrate you to God, and you shall become the accepted servant of the Most High. Oh, what a blessed thing to know assuredly that we have come to the blood of sprinkling by a true and humble faith! Can you say that you only rely on Jesus for salvation? Can you call heaven and earth to witness that you have no other confidence? Then remember the word of the Lord: “He who believes in him has everlasting life. He who believes in him is not condemned.” “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” Are not these words full of strong assurance? Indeed, we have not come to Mount Sinai, the place of trembling; but to Zion, the place which is beautiful for location, the joy of the earth; the vision of peace, the home of infinite blessedness. Conscience no longer thunders at you for your sins, for your sins are gone. The expiation has covered them: the sprinkling of the blood has put them all away. Your iniquities are cast into the depths of the sea; God has cast them behind his back. Christ has taken away the handwriting of ordinances that was against you, nailing it to his cross, as a record in which there is no more condemning force. The debt is paid, the bill is receipted. Who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Oh beloved! it is a most blessed thing to come to the blood of sprinkling.

   The terrors of law and of God
      With me can have nothing to do;
   My Saviour’s obedience and blood
      Hide all my transgressions from view.

15. The act of faith, by which we accept and trust in the Lord Jesus as our Mediator and Sacrifice, is the true and effective coming to the blood of sprinkling. May none of us forget to come like this! He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, and those who come to him shall be led into full salvation. Have you come like this? If you have not, why do you delay? He says, “He who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Come to him, for he is calling you; come to him, even as you now are, and he will receive you without fail.

16. Further, to come to this blood of sprinkling means thankfully to enjoy all that comes to us through the blood of sprinkling. I have intruded upon this somewhat already. Brothers and sisters, if you have come to the blood of sprinkling, believe in the full pardon which God has given you, and in your subsequent peace with God. It is a blessed word in the Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? I have seen some of the children of God who have believed in Jesus, but it has been with a faith which did not experience the full blessing promised to it; for they were as troubled about their sins as if they had never been forgiven. Now, a man who receives a free pardon from the Queen, and goes his way out of prison, rejoices in that pardon as a reality, and therefore walks abroad without fear. You must believe in the pardon of God as a reality, and act accordingly. If he has absolved you for Jesus’ sake, then you are absolved. Why tremble like a guilty wretch waiting for the verdict? Why talk about fearing divine wrath? If you are pardoned, the deed of grace is done, and can never be undone; for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance on his part. His remission of sin is a complete deliverance from jail, a perfect plea, a full acquittal.

   Oh! how sweet to view the flowing
      Of our Lord’s atoning blood,
   With divine assurance knowing
      He has made my peace with God!

17. I want every child of God in his innermost soul to come to the blood of sprinkling by full assurance of his justification, and then to go on to enjoy constant access to the mercy seat, and communion with the Lord God. We may now with holy boldness speak with God in prayer, for the mercy seat is sprinkled with the blood. Oh pardoned one, do not be backward to enjoy your liberty of fellowship! You are clean through the blood, and therefore you may enter into the closest communion with the divine Father; you are consecrated by the blood, and therefore you may abound in the service of your God. Treat your God as a child should treat a father, and do not be so awed by his majesty as to be cast down and distressed because of past sin, since it is pardoned. Take the good that God provides you; enjoy the peace the blood has bought you; enter into the liberty that your ransom price has ensured you. Do not stand in feelings, and fears, and dreams; but come to this blood of sprinkling, and rest there, and be filled with joy and peace through believing. With such a ransom found for you, do not dream of going down into the pit, but ascend with gladness into the hill of the Lord, and stand in his holy place.

18. I think, once more, that this coming to the blood of sprinkling means also that we feel the full effect of it in our lives. The man who knows that Jesus shed his blood for him, and has had that blood applied to his conscience, becomes a sin-hating man, consecrated to him who has cleansed him. “The love of Christ constrains us; because we judge like this, that if one died for all, then all were dead: and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live for themselves, but for him who died for them, and rose again.” I believe that there is no fruitful source of virtue like faith in the precious blood of Jesus. I hope your conduct will always support me in this assertion. Those who are debtors for salvation to their dying Lord should be the most holy of men. You people who think that you will get to heaven by some other way than by “the blood of sprinkling” have no sure bonds to hold you to holiness. You trust partly on your own works, and partly on what Jesus has done. Well, you do not owe him much, and therefore you will not love him much, and therefore you will not feel bound to live strict, holy, gracious lives. But the man who knows that his many sins are all washed away through the blood of Jesus, and that he is saved, he is the man who will serve the Lord with all his heart. He who has received a finished righteousness and complete salvation is under boundless obligations of gratitude, and the force of these obligations will urge him to a consecrated life. The supreme power of gratitude will exert its sacred influence over him and he will not only be carefully obedient, but also ardently zealous in the service of his Redeemer. We know it is so, and we intend to prove it by our daily conduct. Brethren, I would have you exhibit more and more the influence of the precious blood in sanctifying your lives. Are there not Christians who hold the doctrine of the atoning blood, and yet are no better than others? Alas! it is so. But it is one thing to hold a doctrine, and another thing for that doctrine to take hold upon your heart and influence your life. Oh, if we believed practically what we believe professionally, what manner of people should we be in all holy conduct and godliness! Hear me, my brother, and answer the appeals I make to you as in the presence of the Lord. Blood-bought; can you live for yourself? Blood-washed; can you defile your garments? Marked with the King’s own name, in the King’s own blood; how can you yield yourself to other rulers? May God grant that we may come to the blood of sprinkling until it shall purify our nature, and fill us with an all-consuming enthusiasm for him whose heart was pierced for us!

19. I ask you, then, to make the question more personal, “Have I come to this blood of sprinkling? If not, why should I not come at once?” I read the other day a fictitious story, which describes the need of looking well to this great business. Receive it as a parable: — A little daughter of the house of Israel, had heard the commandment concerning the Passover night, and as she lay restless in her bed she cried, “Father, have you sprinkled the blood upon the lintel and the two side-posts?” Her father answered, “Not yet, my child. It shall be done.” The daughter was distressed, and filled with fear. After waiting for a little while she again cried, “Father, father, have you sprinkled the blood upon the door?” He answered carelessly, “Child, I have told Simeon to sprinkle it, and I have no doubt it is done.” “But, father,” she cried, “it is near midnight, and the destroying angel will soon be abroad; are you sure that the blood is over the door? Jehovah our God has said that we must sprinkle the blood upon the lintel and the two side-posts, or else the destroyer will not pass over us. Father, are you sure it is done?” The father ignored her enquiry: he had been eating the lamb with his friends, and thought that this was sufficient; he did not care to give too much prominence to the ghastly idea of blood. He was of a liberal mind, and would not believe that a merciful God would strike his household for so little an omission.

20. Then his daughter arose from her bed, made strong by the God of Israel. Nothing would satisfy her until she had been outside into the street, and seen for herself whether the saving mark was over the door of her father’s house. It was almost midnight, but by the light of the moon she looked, and no blood-mark was there! How great was her distress! “Father,” she cried, “hurry and bring the basin.” There it stood, filled with blood; for the Paschal Lamb had been slain. The father, at her entreaty, dashed the hyssop into it, struck the lintel and the two side-posts and shut the door, and as he did so, the midnight hour arrived. They were saved so as by fire. The daughter’s obedient care and reverence for the Lord had warded off the sword of the destroyer. Oh that the holy anxiety of someone now present would accomplish the same blessing for other households! Ask, dear child, ask the question, “Father, have you come to the blood of sprinkling? Is the blood of the Lamb above your head, between you and God? Is it on both sides of you, when you come in and go out?” Oh soul, be so anxious about yourself, and do not rest until you have by faith been purged with hyssop, and cleansed by the blood of the one sacrifice for sin.

21. III. The last part of our subject is this: WHAT THEN? According to our text, the blood of Jesus is the voice of the new covenant. It is the blood which speaks, and it speaks better things than the blood of Abel. What then is our duty? How does the apostle express our obligation? “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.”

22. I would have a quarter of an hour’s very quiet talk with you, without excitement or quibbling debate. Lend me your ears, for I speak in all love for your souls. I want, dear friends, that this great truth of atonement which I so often preach may have a fair hearing, and not be left to lie among the lumber of forgotten things.

23. Do not refuse the voice of Jesus by cold indifference. God was made flesh, and lived among men, and in due time he took upon himself our sin, and suffered for it in his own body on the tree, so that sin might be put away by the sacrifice of himself. By his death upon the cross our Lord made atonement for the sin of man, and those who believe in him are delivered from evil and its consequences. The main point is that Jesus died for us, the just for the unjust. His atoning blood has a voice: “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.” The text says: See to it; look to it; make sure of it; be careful about it. Do not miss the salvation of your Lord through neglect; for he who dies by neglecting the healing medicine will as surely perish as he who stabs himself. Be in earnest to accept the Saviour: I beseech you to do so, for I am afraid that many refuse him who speaks, because they never think of him, or of his sacrifice. It seems to me that if I were a young man I would give this matter very early notice. However deeply I might be engaged in business, I would feel that my first concern ought to be to set myself right with God. Other matters would be sure to drop into order if I could be right with the Lord of all. If I heard it said that salvation came by the blood of Christ, I think I should pull myself together and resolve to understand this exceptional statement. I would not let it go by me, but would endeavour to reach the bottom of it, and practically understand it. I would meditate much upon teaching so wonderful as this — that the Son of God in man’s place honoured the justice of God by death, and so put away sin.

24. When I was a youth I had a great longing to begin life on right principles: I longed to find deliverance from sin. I would wake up with the sun in summer-time to read my Bible, and such books as Bunyan’s “Grace Abounding,” Baxter’s “Call to the Unconverted,” Alleine’s “Alarm,” and Doddridge’s “Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.” In these books I tried to understand the way of salvation; but the chief thing I longed to know was, “How can man be just with God? How can God be just with man, and yet put away his sin?” Do you not think that these questions are of high importance? I plead that they may not have the cold shoulder from you. Give this question due consideration. I know that a great many things demand your attention nowadays; but I claim for this, which is the innermost revelation of God, that it should have an early and earnest hearing. God incarnate in Christ Jesus bleeding and dying for human sin is a marvel of love too great to be passed over without thought. I urge you, therefore, “do not refuse him who speaks.” Do not say, “Please have me excused.” I do not suppose that you will become an infidel or act as a blasphemer towards this grand truth. I will not accuse you of denying the fact of the atonement; but my great fear is lest you should be indifferent to it. If it is so, that God himself has come to earth to bleed and die to save guilty man, it is the greatest, gladdest news that ever came to our poor erring race, and every member of that race should receive it with hopeful attention.

25. When you resolve to study the doctrine, do not approach it with prejudice through misapprehension. Those who hate the gospel of Christ are very busy in caricaturing the doctrine of the atonement. They assert that we preach that God was not merciful by nature, but must necessarily be appeased by the blood of his own Son. They charge us with saying that Jesus by his death made God loving. We distinctly teach the very opposite of that statement. What we do say is this, that God is infinitely loving — that, in fact, God is love; but that love does not cause him to be unjust or unholy; for that in the long run would not be love. God is the Judge of all the earth, and he must do right. The Lord, as the great moral governor, if he makes a law, and threatens a penalty, must execute that penalty, or else his law will lose its authority. If the threatened penalty is not executed, there is a tacit acknowledgment that it was threatened in error. Could you believe in a fallible God? The Lord has made a law which is perfect, and just, and good. Would you rather be without law? What reasonable person desires anarchy? He has backed up that law with a threatening. What is the use of a law if to break it involves no evil consequences? A government that never punishes offenders is no government at all. God, therefore, as moral ruler, must be just, and must display his indignation against wrong and evil of every kind. It is written on the conscience of men that sin must be punished. Would you have it go unpunished? If you are a just man, you would not. To meet the case, therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ, by himself bearing the penalty of death, has honoured the divine law. He has shown to all intelligences that God will not wink at sin, that even his infinite mercy must not come in the way of his justice. This is the doctrine: do not listen to those who twist and pervert it. It is the love of God which has provided the great atonement by which, in a judgment better than ours, the law finds a glorious vindication, and the foundation of moral government is strengthened. Do consider this matter, and judge it fairly, with candid minds. We do assure you from God’s Word that apart from the atonement of our Lord Jesus you can never be saved either from the guilt or power of evil. You will find no peace for your conscience that is worth having, no thorough and deep peace, except by believing in this atoning sacrifice; neither will you find a motive strong enough to rescue you from the bonds of iniquity. Therefore “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.” Hear, and your soul shall live. Object, and you will die in your sins.

26. Do not refuse the voice of the Lord Jesus by rejecting the principle of expiation. If God is satisfied with this principle, it is not for us to raise an objection. The Lord God is infinitely more concerned to establish matters on a solid foundation than we ever can be, and if he feels that the sacrifice of Jesus handles the case at all points, why should we be dissatisfied with it? If there were a flaw in the proceedings his holy eyes would see it. He would not have delivered up his own Son to die unless that death would perfectly fulfil the purpose intended by it. He would never have perpetrated so expensive a mistake. Who are you to raise the question? If God is satisfied, surely you should be! To refuse the atonement because we are too wise to accept so simple a method of mercy is the utmost height of folly. What! will you refuse him who speaks because the present phase of human madness dares to dispute the divine way of human redemption? I implore you, do not do so.

27. Once more, do not refuse this voice of mercy by preferring your own way of salvation. You have, no doubt, a way of salvation in your own mind, for few men have given up all hope. Perhaps your chosen hope is that you will be saved by doing your best. Alas! no man does his best; and the best acts of a rebel must be unacceptable to his king. As long as he is a rebel his acts are those of a rebel, and of no esteem with his prince. Perhaps your hope lies in saying so many prayers, and going to church, or attending chapel; or you are so unwise as to trust in a minister or priest. Now, we beseech you, hear the witness of God which he has given us in this book, and learn that no other foundation can any man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ the righteous. There is one salvation, and there can be no other; all other hopes are lying vanities, and arrogant insults to Jesus. God has presented Christ to be a propitiation for sin. There is no other propitiation, or atonement, or way of acceptance; and if you reject this way, you must die in your sins.

28. I cannot help it if you do not like this teaching, although I shall be grieved if you refuse it. I can only tell you the truth, and leave it with your own hearts. Do not wilfully refuse it. When I meet you face-to-face in that last day, to which we all must come, I shall not be clear of your blood unless I tell you what is assuredly the truth — that in the precious blood of Christ is the only cleansing from sin, and the only acceptance with God. By believing in Jesus, as slain for you, you shall be saved; but do what you may, pray as you may, fast as you may, give alms as you may, you shall not enter heaven by any other road. The way to glory is by the way of the cross. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” Look to him whom you have pierced, and mourn for your sins. Do not look to any other, for no other is needed, no other is provided, no other can be accepted. Jesus is the sole messenger of the covenant of life and peace. “See that you do not refuse him who speaks.”

29. “See that you do not refuse.” Then there is a choice about it. If you had never heard the gospel, you could not have refused it; but now that you have heard the message, it lies within your power, and it is an awfully dangerous power, to refuse him who speaks. Oh, can you, will you, dare you refuse my bleeding Saviour — refuse the Lord of love? I see him now. The thorn-crown is on his brow. He is hanging on his cross expiring in unutterable pangs! Can you refuse him while he presents such a spectacle of sacrifice? His eyes are red with weeping; have you no tears for such sorrow? His cheeks are all stained with the brutal soldiers’ spittle: have you no love and homage for him? His hands are fastened to the wood — his feet the same: and there he hangs to suffer in the sinner’s place. Will you not yield yourselves to him? I could joyfully bow before that foot of the cross to kiss his dear feet stained with blood. What a charm he has for me! And you — do you refuse him?

30. He is no mere man. It is God himself who hangs upon the cross. His body is that of a man, but it is in union with the Godhead. He who died at Calvary is God over all, and this makes his death so effective. He whom you have offended, in order to be justly able to pardon you, hangs there and dies for you: and do you turn your back on him? Oh sirs, if you are wise you will come, as I said I gladly would come, and kiss those bleeding feet, and look up and say, “My Lord, I am reconciled to you — how could I be otherwise? My enmity is dead. How can I be an enemy to him who died for me? In shame, and scorn, and misery, Jesus dies so that I may live. Oh Lord Jesus, you have worked in me, not reconciliation merely, but full submission and hearty love. I rejoice to sink myself in you, and to be yours for ever.” See that you do not refuse my Lord. May the sweet Spirit who loves the cross, and, like a dove, hovers around it now, descend upon you all who hear my message! May the Holy Spirit apply the blood of sprinkling to you; and may you feel that, instead of refusing him who speaks, you rejoice in his name!

31. When the text says, “See that you do not refuse,” it tacitly and pleadingly says, “See that you accept him.” Dear hearers, I trust you will receive my Lord into your hearts. When we read of refusing, or receiving, we perceive an action of the will. Jesus must be willingly received: he will not force himself upon any man. Whoever accepts Jesus is himself accepted by Jesus. Never was there a heart willing to receive him to whom Jesus denied himself. Never! But you must be willing and obedient. Grace works this in you; but this must be in you. Until the heart entertains Jesus gladly nothing is done. All that is short of a willing hearing of Jesus, and a willing acceptance of his great atonement, is short of eternal life. Say, will you have this Saviour, or do you decline his love? Will you give him a cold refusal? Oh, do not do so; but, on the contrary, throw open the doors of your heart, and entreat your Lord and Saviour to come in.

32. I do not wonder that the Israelites asked that they might no longer hear the voice of thunder from the top of Sinai; it was too terrible for human ears; but you have no such excuse if you refuse him who speaks; for Jesus speaks in notes more sweet than music, more tender than a mother’s lullaby to her babe. Let me remind you, that he was accustomed to say, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.” He declared that all manner of sin and of blasphemy should be forgiven to men. He stood and cried, on the last day of the feast, “If any man thirsts, let him come to me, and drink.” I am telling you no fables; for Christ, who was born at Bethlehem and died on Calvary, by his own blood which he shed for many, assures you that there is forgiveness for every man of you who, confessing his sin, will come and put his trust in him.

33. “See that you do not refuse him who speaks”; for though you hear only my poor feeble voice pleading with you, with an honest, loving heart behind it, yet God the Holy Spirit is speaking, and Jesus Christ himself is speaking to you. Refuse me if you please, but do not refuse my Lord. The blood of Jesus says, “I was poured out for the guilty. I was shed to reveal divine love. I am sprinkled to cleanse from sin.” Each drop as it falls creates peace of heart. Stand where that blood is falling. Let it sprinkle you.

34. So the blood speaks. Will you not answer, “Lord, we come to you, for you have drawn us. Your wounds have wounded our hearts. Your death has killed our enmity. Sprinkle us for yourself. Bedew us with your blood. Let us be accepted in the Beloved?” Amen. So may God hear us!

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Heb 10]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death — Christ’s Death, Victory, And Dominion” 302}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death — His Death” 294}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — I Crucified Him” 580}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death — The Cleansing Fountain” 288}
The Sword And The Trowel. Edited by C. H. Spurgeon.
Contents for March, 1886.
Who are the Persecuted? By C. H. Spurgeon.
“Say not, ‘Yet Four Months.’ ”
The Special Power of Preaching.
Dr. Schofield, of T’ai Yuen Fu.
Hold Fast your Shield.
Little-known Facts concerning the Reformation in England.
Power of God’s Word.
The Steam-Roller and the Stone-Roller.
Individuality.
Our Nearest Foreign Mission Field.
“Remember me Aloft.”
Wild Birds Notes.
The Uses of Affliction.
Footstool Musings.
The Growth of Towns — A Glance at Philadelphia.
Notices of Books.
Notes.
Pastors’ College.
Stockwell Orphanage.
Girls’ Orphanage.
Colportage Association.
Society of Evangelists.
Price 3d. Post-free, 4 Stamps.
Passmore & Alabaster, 4 Paternoster Buildings; and all Booksellers.

Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death
302 — Christ’s Death, Victory, And Dominion
1 I sing my Saviour’s wondrous death;
   He conquer’d when he fell:
   “’Tis finish’d!” said his dying breath,
   And shook the gates of hell.
2 “’Tis finish’d!” our Immanuel cries:
   The dreadful work is done:
   Hence shall his sovereign throne arise
   His kingdom is begun.
3 His cross a sure foundation laid
   For glory and renown,
   When through the regions of the dead
   He pass’d to reach the crown.
4 Exalted at his Father’s side
   Sits our victorious Lord;
   To heaven and hell his hands divide
   The vengeance or reward.
5 The saints, from his propitious eye,
   Await their several crowns;
   And all the sons of darkness fly
   The terror of his frowns.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.

Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death
294 — His Death <8.7.>
1 On the wings of faith uprising,
   Jesus crucified I see;
   While his love, my soul surprising,
   Cries, “I suffer’d all for thee!”
2 Then, beneath the cross adoring,
   Sin doth like itself appear;
   When the wounds of Christ exploring,
   I can read my pardon there.
3 Who can think, without admiring?
   Who can hear, and nothing feel?
   See the Lord of life expiring,
   Yet retain a heart of steel?
4 Angels here may gaze and wonder
   What the God of love could mean,
   When he tore the heart asunder,
   Never once defiled with sin!
                     Joseph Swain, 1792.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
580 — I Crucified Him
1 My Jesus! say what wretch has dared
      Thy sacred hands to bind?
   And who has dared to buffet so
      Thy face so meek and kind?
2 ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been,
      Yet, Jesus, pity take!
   Oh, spare and pardon me, my Lord,
      For thy sweet mercy’s sake!
3 My Jesus! who with spittle vile
      Profaned thy sacred brow?
   Or whose unpitying scourge has made
      Thy precious blood to flow?
         ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been, &c.
4 My Jesus! whose the hands that wove
      That cruel thorny crown?
   Who made that hard and heavy cross
      That weighs thy shoulders down?
         ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been, &c.
5 My Jesus! who has mock’d thy thirst
      With vinegar and gall?
   Who held the nails that pierced hands,
      And made the hammer fall?
         ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been, &c.
6 My Jesus! say who dared to nail
      Those tender feet of thine:
   And whose the arm that raised the lance
      To pierce that heart divine?
         ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been, &c.
7 And, Father! who has murder’d thus
      Thy loved and only One?
   Canst thou forgive the blood stain’d hand
      That robb’d thee of thy Son?
8 ‘Tis I have thus ungrateful been
      To Jesus and to thee;
   Forgive me, Lord, for his sweet sake,
      And mercy grant to me.
                  Alphonso M. Laguori, 1769;
                  tr. by R. A. Coffin, 1854.

Jesus Christ, Sufferings and Death
288 — The Cleansing Fountain
1 There is a fountain fill’d with blood,
   Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
   And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
   Lose all their guilty stains.
2 The dying thief rejoiced to see
   That fountain in his day;
   Oh may I there, though vile as he,
   Wash all my sins away!
3 Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
   Shall never lose its power,
   Till all the ransom’d church of God
   Be saved to sin no more.
4 E’er since by faith I saw the stream
   Thy flowing wounds supply,
   Redeeming love has been my theme,
   And shall be till I die.
5 Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
   I’ll sing thy power to save,
   When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
   Lies silent in the grave.
                     William Cowper, 1779.