What the old covenant could never do

“Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” We have tried to show from the words of the text that Christ is sufficient to purify us by supplying us with holy motives, and to pardon us by His having Himself atoned for sin. The doctrine, then, is, that THERE IS NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SIN, BECAUSE CHRIST SUPPLIES ALL THAT IS NEEDED...

“Ah!” you will say, “this is meant for Catholics.” Well, then, a little for yourselves. There are some of you who are quite as bad; you receive the same doctrine only in another shape...

Some others of you think that you must get your hearts softened before you can trust in Christ. When we preach the gospel to you, you say, “I do not feel such tenderness as I should like to feel.” No, dear friend, and you never will while you talk so, for true tenderness of heart is not obtained by shutting your eyes to the cross. If you will not trust Christ, your heart will grow harder instead of softer, and if you set up the softness of your own heart in the place of Christ’s sufferings, you will find that this unbelief of yours will make you grow more stubborn still.

“Oh,” you say, “but I cannot pray as I would wish.” Very likely, but then do you think that your prayers are to make up for Christ’s work? I tell you that your prayer is a most precious thing, and that a broken heart is a precious thing, and yet your prayer and your broken heart are good for nothing if you put them in the place of Christ! You are not saved by your prayers or your brokenness of spirit, but by what Jesus did upon the cross, and you must rest there and there only. Will you, sinner? Will you do this, or will you still put away the comfort of the cross and say, “No, I will not trust Christ till I can trust my own prayers”? You will never be saved while you talk so. May the Holy Spirit cure you of your unbelief!

“Ah!” says another, “but then I cannot realize this.” Oh, I see, then is your realizing it that is to do it, is it? Not Christ’s sufferings? You will have a finger in this pie, and think that surely my Master cannot do the work without your help. Oh, poor sinner, you talk about humility, but this is the rankest pride in the world—to want to do something to save yourself! Come now, may the Holy Spirit help you to come now, as you are! Give up these dreams, these notions, these proud fancies, and come as you are, and say, “If God Himself became man to die for sin, there must be merit enough in His death to remove my sin. Does God himself say that if I trust Christ my sins and my iniquities He will remember no more? Then I will trust Christ, I cannot help it; I must cast myself on Him.” Oh, my dear hearers, depend upon it you may spin, and spin, and spin, but all that you ever spin God will undo as fast as you spin it. You will think, “Now I am in a fair way of going to heaven.” I tell you, you are in a fair way of going to hell when you talk so. You are never on the road to heaven unless you stand self-condemned; when you are convicted in yourselves, then God acquits you, but when you say, “Lord, I thank You that I am not as other men are,” you are a poor condemned Pharisee, and your portion will be the flames! If you will come all unworthy and undeserving as you are, altogether lost and ruined, all hopeless and helpless, fit for nothing but to be swept out of God’s universe; if you will acknowledge yourself to be an undutiful child, a wandering sheep and a sinner deserving His anger, then He will meet you, when you are yet a long way off He will meet you, and will fall upon your neck and kiss you, and say, “Take off his rags and clothe him.” My Savior loves sinners; my heavenly Father loves His prodigal children, but He does not love those who bring Him their own works, and their own righteousness. Away with these things, away with them! They are a stench in the nostrils of God! Your very prayers, and tears, and repentings, and humbling, if you put them in the place of the cross of Christ, are only so much dogs’ meat to be cast into the fire of hell. He will not have you and your good works, but He will have you and your sins. He will not have you and your riches, but He will have you and your poverty. He will not have you and your fullness, but He will have you and your emptiness. He will have you as you are, just as you are. Only trust Him; trust Him, and you shall find that this new covenant will do for you what the old covenant of “Do, do, do,” could never do—it will sanctify you and justify you.

A Savior Such As You Need, Sermon 714 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Photo Credit: By Mahdikarimi70 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons