THE COVENANT PLEADED.

A Sermon

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Have respect unto the covenant."-Psalm lxxiv. 20.

He will succeed in prayer who understands the science of pleading with God. "Put me in remembrance: let us plead together," is a divine command. "Come now, let us reason together" is a sacred invitation. "Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the Lord," is a condescending direction as to the way of becoming victorious in supplication. Pleading is wrestling: arguments are the grips, the feints, the throes, the struggles with which we hold and vanquish the covenant angel. The humble statement of our wants is not without its value, but to be able to give reasons and arguments why God should hear us is to offer potent, prevalent prayer. Among all the arguments that can be used in pleading with God, perhaps there is none stronger than this-" Have respect unto the covenant." Like Goliath's sword, we may say of it, "There is none like it." If we have God's word for a thing we may well pray, "Do as thou hast said, for as a good man only needs to be reminded of his own word in order to be brought to keep it, even so is it with our faithful God; he only needs that for these things we put him in remembrance to do them for us." If he has given us more than his word, namely, his covenant, his solemn compact, we may then with the greatest composure of spirit cry to him, "Have respect unto the covenant," and then we may both hope and quietly wait for his salvation.

I need not tell you, for you are, I trust, well-grounded in that matter, that the covenant here spoken of is the covenant of grace. There is a covenant which we could not plead in prayer, the covenant of works, a covenant which destroys us, for we have broken it. Our first father sinned, and the covenant was broken; we have continued in his perverseness, and that covenant condemns us. By the covenant of works can none of us be justified, for we continue still to break our portion of it, and to bring upon ourselves wrath to the uttermost. The Lord hath made a new covenant with the second Adam, our federal head, Jesus Christ our Lord,-a covenant without conditions, except such conditions as Christ has already fulfilled, a covenant, ordered in all things and sure, which now consists of promises only, which run after this fashion-"I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people":"A new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them": "From all their transgressions will I

cleanse them":-a covenant, I say, which had once conditions in it, all of which our Lord Jesus fulfilled when he finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness; and now the covenant is all of promise, and consists of infallible and eternal shalls and wills, which shall abide the same for ever.

We shall talk of the text thus, What is meant by the plea before us— "Have respect unto the covenant"? Then we will think a little of whence it derives its force: thirdly, we will consider how and when we may plead it: and we will close by noticing what are the practical inferences from it.

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I. Let us begin by this-WHAT IS MEANT BY THE PLEA "Have respect unto the covenant"? It means this, does it not? Fulfil thy covenant, O God: let it not be a dead letter. Thou hast said this and that; now do as thou hast said. Thou hast been pleased by solemn sanction of oath and blood to make this covenant with thy people. Now be pleased to keep it. Hast thou said, and wilt thou not do it? We are persuaded of thy faithfulness, let our eyes behold thy covenant engagements fulfilled.

It means again, "Fulfil all the promises of thy covenant," for indeed all the promises are now in the covenant. They are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us; and I may say without being unscriptural that the covenant contains within its sacred charter every gracious word that has come from the Most High, either by the mouth of prophets or apostles, or by the lips of Jesus Christ himself. The meaning in this case would be-"Lord, keep thy promises concerning thy people. We are in want: now, O Lord, fulfil thy promise that we shall not want any good thing. Here is another of thy promises: 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.' We are in rivers of trouble. Be with us now. Redeem thy promises to thy servants. Let them not stand on the book as letters that mock us, but prove that thou didst mean what thou didst write and say, and let us see that thou hast power and will to make every jot and tittle good of all thou hast spoken. For hast thou not said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away'? Oh then have respect unto the promises of thy covenant."

In the connection of our text there is no doubt that the suppliant meant, "O Lord, prevent anything from turning aside thy promises.' The church was then in a very terrible state. The temple was burnt, and the assemblage broken up, the worship of God had ceased, and idolatrous emblems stood even in the holy place where once the glory of God shone forth. The plea is, "Do not suffer the power of the enemy to be so great as to frustrate thy purposes, or to make thy promises void.” So may we pray-" O Lord, do not suffer me to endure such temptation that I shall fall. Do not suffer such affliction to come upon me that I shall be destroyed; for hast thou not promised that no temptation shall happen to us but such as we are able to bear, and that with the temptation there shall be a way of escape? Now have respect unto thy covenant, and so order thy providence that nothing shall happen to us contrary to that divine agreement."

And it means also, "So order everything around us that the covenant may be fulfilled. Is thy church low? Raise up again in her midst

men who preach the gospel with power, who shall be the means of her uplifting. Creator of men, Master of human hearts, thou who canst circumcise human lips to speak thy word with power, do this, and let thy covenant with thy church that thou wilt never leave her be fulfilled. The kings of the earth are in thy hand. All events are controlled by thee. Thou orderest all things, from the minute to the immense. Nothing, however small, is too small for thy purpose: nothing, however great, is too great for thy rule. Manage everything so that in the end cach promise of thy covenant shall be fulfilled to all thy chosen people." That, I think, is the meaning of the plea, "Have respect unto the covenant." Keep it and see it kept. Fulfil the promise, and prevent thy foes from doing evil to thy children. Precious plea, assuredly. II. And now let us see WHENCE IT DERIVES ITS FORCE. "Have respect unto the covenant."

It derives its force, first, from the veracity of God. If it be a covenant of man's making we expect a man to keep it; and a man who does not keep his covenant is not esteemed amongst his fellows. If a man has given his word, that word is his bond. If a thing be solemnly signed and sealed it becomes even more binding, and he that would run back from a covenant would be thought to have forfeited his character among men. God forbid that we should ever think the Most High could be false to his word. It is not possible. He can do all things except this he cannot lie; it is not possible that he should ever be untrue. He cannot even change: the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He will not alter the thing that hath gone out of his lips. When then we come before God in prayer for a covenant mercy we have his truthfulness to support us. "O God, thou must do this. Thou art a sovereign: thou canst do as thou wilt, but thou hast bound thyself by bonds that hold thy majesty; thou hast said it, and it is not possible that thou shouldst go back from thine own word." How strong our faith ought to be when we have God's truth to lean upon. What dishonour we do to our God by our weak faith; for it is virtually a suspicion of the fidelity of our covenant God.

Next, to support us in using this plea we have God's sacred jealousy for his honour. He has told us himself that he is a jealous God; his name is jealousy; he has great respect unto his honour among the sons of men. Hence this was Moses's plea-"What will the enemy say? And what wilt thou do unto thy greatname?" Now, if God's covenant could be trifled with, and if it could be proved that he had not kept the promise that he made to his creatures, it would not only be a dreadful thing for us, but it would bring grievous dishonour upon his name; and that shall never be. God is too pure and holy, and he is withal too honourable ever to run back from the word that he has given to his servants. If I feel that my feet have almost gone I may still be assured that he will not suffer me wholly to perish, else were his honour stained, for he hath said, "They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." He might give me up to mine enemies so far as my deserts are concerned, for I deserve to be destroyed by them-but then his honour is engaged to save the meanest of his people, and he has said, "I give unto them eternal life." He will not, therefore, for his honour's sake, suffer me to be the prey of the adversary; but will

preserve me, even me, unto the day of his appearing. Here is good foothold for faith.

The next reflection that should greatly strengthen us is the venerable character of the covenant. This covenant was no transaction of yesterday: or ever the earth was this covenant was made. We may not speak of first or last with God, but speaking after the manner of men the deed covenant of grace is God's first thought. Though we usually put the covenant of works first in order of time as revealed, yet in very the covenant of grace is the older of the two. God's people were not chosen yesterday, but before the foundations of the world; and the Lamb slain to ratify that covenant, though slain eighteen hundred years ago, was in the divine purpose slain from before the foundations of the world. It is an ancient covenant: there is nothing so ancient. It is to God It is not one of his light a covenant which he holds in high esteem. thoughts, not one of those thoughts which lead him to create the morning dew that melts ere the day has run its course, or to make the clouds that light up the setting sun with glory but which soon have lost their radiance; but it is one of his great thoughts, yea, it is his eternal thought, the thought out of his own inmost soul-this covenant of grace. And because it is so ancient, and to God a matter so important, when we come to him with this plea in our mouths we must not think of being staggered by unbelief, but may open our mouths wide, for he will assuredly fill them. Here is thy covenant, O God, which of thy own spontaneous sovereign will thou didst ordain of old, a covenant in which thy very heart is laid bare, and thy love which is thyself is manifested. O God, have respect unto it, and do as thou hast said, and fulfil thy promise to thy people.

Nor is this all. It is but the beginning. In one sermon I should not have time to show you all the reasons that give force to the plea; but here is one. The covenant has upon it a solemn endorsement. There very word that was the stamp of God's own word-that is enough. The But, as if created the universe is the word that spake the covenant. that were not sufficient, seeing we are unbelieving, God has added to it his oath, and because he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself. It were blasphemy to dream that the Eternal could be perjured, and he has set his oath to his covenant, in order that, by two immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie, he might give to the heirs of grace strong consolation.

But more, that venerable covenant thus confirmed by oath was sealed with blood. Jesus died to ratify it. His heart's blood bedewed that Magna Charta of the grace of God to his people. It is a covenant now which God the just must keep. Jesus has fulfilled our side of it-has executed to the letter all the demands of God upon man. Our Surety and our Substitute has at once kept the law and suffered all that was due by his people on account of their breach of it; and now shall not the Lord be true and the everlasting Father be faithful to his own Son? How can he refuse to his Son the joy which he set before him and the reward "He shall see his seed: he shall see of the which he promised him? travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." My soul, the faithfulness of God to his covenant is not so much a matter between thee and God as between Christ and God, for now it so stands-Christ as their

representative puts in his claim before the throne of infinite justice for the salvation of every soul for whom he shed his blood, and he must have what he has purchased. Oh what confidence is here! The rights of the Son, blended with the love and the veracity of the Father, makes the covenant to be ordered in all things and sure.

Moreover, remember, and I will not detain you much longer with this, that up till now nothing in the covenant has ever failed. The Lord has been tried by ten thousand times ten thousand of his people, and they have been in trying emergencies and serious difficulties; but it has never been reported in the gates of Zion that the promise has become naught, neither have any said that the covenant is null and void. Ask ye those before you who passed through deeper waters than yourselves. Ask the martyrs who gave their lives up for their Master, "Was he with them to the end?" The placid smiles upon their countenances while enduring the most painful death were evident testimonies that God is true. Their joyous songs, the clapping of their hands amidst the fire, and their exultation even on the rack, or when rotting in some loathsome dungeon-all these have proved how faithful the Lord has been.

And have you not heard with your own cars the testimony of God's dying people? They were in conditions in which they could not have been sustained by mere imagination, nor buoyed up by frenzy, and yet they have been as joyful as if their dying day had been their wedding day. Death is too solemn a matter for a man to play a masquerade there. But what did your wife say in death? or your mother now with God? or what your child, who had learnt the Saviour's love? Can you not recall their testimonies even now? I think I hear some of them, and amongst the things of earth that are like to the joys of heaven, I think this is one of the foremost,-the joy of departed saints when they already hear the voices of angels hovering near, and turn round and tell us in broken language of the joys that are bursting in upon themtheir sight blinded by the excess of brightness, and their hearts ravished with the bliss that floods them. Oh it has been sweet to see the saints depart!

I mention these things now, not merely to refresh your memories, but to establish your faith in God. He has been true so many times and false never, and shall we now experience any difficulty in resting on his covenant? No, by all these many years in which the faithfulness of God has been put to the test, and has never failed, let us be confident that he will still regard us, and let us pray boldly,-"Have respect unto the covenant." For, mark you, as it has been in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, world without end. It shall be to the last saint as it was with the first. The testimony of the last soldier of the host shall be, "Not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord God hath promised."

Only one more reflection here. Our God has taught many of us to trust in his name. We were long in learning the lesson, and nothing but Omnipotence could have made us willing to walk by faith, and not by sight; but with much patience the Lord has brought us at last to have no reliance but on himself, and now we are depending on his faithfulness and his truth. Is that thy case, brother? What then?