Sermon 3500. Two Coverings and Two Consequences

(No. 3500)

Published on Thursday, February 24th, 1916.

Delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper."-Proverbs 38:13.

"Thou Hast covered all their sins."-Psalm 85:2.

IN THESE two texts we have man's covering, which is worthless and culpable, and God's covering, which is profitable, and worthy of all acceptation. No sooner had man disobeyed his Maker's will in the garden of Eden thanhe discovered, to his surprise and dismay, that he was naked, and he set about at once to make himself a covering. It wasa poor attempt which our first parents made, and it proved a miserable failure. "They sewed fig-leaves together." Afterthat God came in, revealed to them yet more fully their nakedness, made them confess their sin, brought their transgressionhome to them, and then it is written, the Lord God made them coats of skin. Probably the coats were made of the skins of animalswhich had been offered in sacrifice, and, if so, they were a fit type of him who has provided us with a sin-offering and arobe of perfect righteousness. Every man since the days of Adam has gone through much of the same experience, more or lessrelying on his own ingenuity to hide his own confusion of face. He has discovered that sin has made him naked, and hehas set to work to clothe himself. As I shall have to show you presently, he has never succeeded. But God has been pleasedto deal with his own people, according to the riches of his grace; he has covered their shame and put away their sins thatthey should not be remembered any more.

Let me now direct your attention, first, to man's covering, and its failure; and then to God's covering, and its perfection.

May the Holy Spirit be pleased to give you discernment, that you may see your destitute state in the presence of God, andunderstand the merciful relief that God himself has provided in the bounty of his grace!

I. MAN'S COVERING.

There are many ways in which men try to cover their sin. Some do so by denying that they have sinned, or, admitting the fact,they deny the guilt; or else, candidly acknowledging both the sin and the guilt, they excuse and exonerate themselves on theplea of certain circumstances which rendered it, according to their showing, almost inevitable that they should act as theyhave done. By pretext and presence, apology and self-vindication, they acquit themselves of allcriminality, and put a fine gloss upon every foul delinquency. Excuse-making is the commonest trade under heaven. The slenderest materials are put to the greatest account. A man who has no valid argumentin arrest of judgment, no feasible reason why he should not be condemned, will go about and bring a thousand excuses, andten thousand circumstances of extenuation, the whole of them weak and attenuated as a spider's web. Someone here may be sayingwithin himself, "It may be I havebroken the law of God, but it was too severe. To keep so perfect a law was impossible. I have violated it, but then Iam a man, endowed with passions that involve propensities, and inflamed with desires that need gratification. How could Ido otherwise than I have done? Placed in peculiar circumstances, I am borne along with the current. Subject to special temptations,I yield to the fascination; this is natural." So you think; so you essay to exculpate yourself. But, in truth, you are nowcommitting a fresh sin; for you are abasing God, you are inculpating the Almighty. You are impugning the law to vindicateyourself for breaking it. There is no small degree of criminality about such an unrighteous defence. The law is holy, just,and good. You are throwing the onus of your sins upon God. You are trying to mane out that, after all, you are not to blame,but the fault lies with him who gave the commandment. Do you think that this will be tolerated? Shall the prisoner at thebarbring accusations against the Judge who tries him? Or shall he challenge the equity of the statute while he is arraignedfor violating it? And as for the circumstances that you plead, what valid excuse can they furnish, Has it come to this-thatit was not you, but your necessities, that did the wrong and are answerable for the consequence? Not you, indeed! you area harmless innocent victim of circumstances! I suppose, instead of being censured, you ought almost to be pitied. What isthis,again, but throwing the blame upon the arrangements of Providence, and saying to God, "It is the harshness of thy discipline,not the perverseness of my actions, that involves me in sin." What, I say, is this but a high impertinence, ay, veritabletreason, against the Majesty of that thrice holy God, before whom even perfect angels veil their faces, while they cry, "Holy,holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts"? I pray thee resort not to such a covering as this, because, while it is utterly useless, itadds sin to sin, and exposes thee to fresh shame.

In many cases persons violating the law of God have hoped to cover their transgression by secrecy. They have done the deed in darkness. They hope that no ear of man heard their footfall, or listened to their speech. Possiblythey themselves held their tongue, and flattered themselves that no observer witnessed their movements or could divulge theiraction. So was it with Achan. I dare say he took the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment, mid the confusion of thebattle, and hid it when his comrades seemed too much engaged to notice so trivial fan affair. While they were rushingover the fallen walls of Jericho, amidst the debris and the dust, he might be unmolested; and then, in the dead of night,while they slept, he turned the sod of his tent, dug into the earth, and buried there his coveted treasure. All looks right,to his heart's content. He has smoothed it down, and spread his carpet over the grave of his lust. Little did he reckon oftheOmniscient eye. Little did he count on the unerring lot that would come home to the tribe of Judah, to the family of theZarhites, to the house of Zabdir, and, at last, to the son of Carmi, so that Achan himself would have to stand out confessedas a traitor-a robber of his God. Men little know the ways in which the Almighty can find them out, and bring the evidencethat convicts, out of the devices that were intended to cover their sin.

Do you not know that Providence is a wonderful detective? There are hounds upon the track of every thief, and murderer, andliar-in foot, upon every sinner of every kind. Each sin leaves a trail. The dogs of judgment will be sure to scent it out,and find their prey. There is no disentangling yourselves from the meshes of guilt; no possibility of evading the penaltyof transgression. Very wonderful have been the ways in which persons who have committed crimes have beenbrought to judgment. A trifle becomes a tell-tale. The method of deceit gives a clue to the manner of discovery. Wretchedthe men who bury their secrets in their own bosom. Their conscience plays traitor to them. They have often been forged tobetray themselves. We have read of men talking in their sleep to their fellows, and babbling out in their dreams the crimethey had committed years before. God would have the secret disclosed. No eye had seen, neither could other tongue have bold,but theman turned king's evidence against himself; he has thus brought himself to judgment. It has often happened, in some formor other, that conscience has thus been witness against men. Do I address anyone who is just now practicing a secret sin?You would not have me point you out for all the world, nor shall I do so. Believe me, however, the sin is known. Dexterousthough you have been in the attempt to conceal it, it has been seen. As surely as you live, it has been seen. "By whom?" sayyou. Ah!by One who never forgets what he sees, and will be sure to tell of it. He may commission a little bird of the air to whisperit. Certainly he will one day proclaim it by the sound of trumpet to listening worlds. You are watched, sir; you are known.You have been narrowly observed, young girl; those things you have hidden away will be brought to light, for God is the greatdiscoverer of sin. His eye has marked you; his providence will track you. It is vain to think that ye can conceal yourtransgressions. Before high heaven, disguise is futile. Yea, the darkness hideth not; the night shineth as the day. Ihave known persons who have harboured a sin in their breast till it has preyed upon their constitution. They have been likethe Spartan boy who had stolen a fox, and was ashamed to have it known, so he kept it within his garment, till it ate throughhis flesh, and he fell dead. He suffered the fox to gnaw his heart ere he would betray himself. There are those who have gota sin,if not a lie in their right hand, yea, a lie in their heart, and it is eating into their very life. They dare not confessit. If they would confess it to their God, and make restitution to those whom they have offended, they would soon come topeace; but they vainly hope that they can cover the sin, and hide it from the eyes of God and man. He that covereth his sinin this fashion shall not prosper.

Again, full many a time sinners have tried to cover their sin with falsehood. Indeed, this is the usual habit-to lie-to cloak their guilt by denying it. Was not this the way with Gehazi? When the prophetsaid, "Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" he said, "Thy servant went no whither." Then the prophet told him that the leprosy ofNaaman should cleave to him all the days of his life. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira, in lying in order to hide their sin,how quickly was itdiscovered, and how terrible was the retribution! I wonder that men and women can lie as they do after reading that story."Hast thou sold the land for so much?" said Peter. And Ananias said, "Yea, for so much." At that instant he fell down andgave up the ghost. Three hours after, when his wife, Sapphire, said the same, the feet of the young men who had buried herhusband were at the door, ready to carry out her corpse, and bury her by his side. Oh! sirs, ye must weave a tangled web,indeed,when once ye begin to deceive; and when you have woven it you will have to add lie to lie, and lie to lie, and yet allto no purpose, for you will be surely found out. There is something about a lie that always deludes the man who utters it.Liars have need of good memories. They are sure to leave a little corner uncovered through which the truth escapes. Theirstory does not hang together. Discrepancies excite suspicions, and evasions furnish a clue to discoveries, till the nakedtruth isunveiled. Then the deeper the plot the fouler is the shame. But to lie unto the God of truth, of what avail can that be?What advantageth it you to plead "not guilty," when he has witnessed your crime? That infallible Eye which never mistakesis never closed. He knows everything; from him no secret is hid. Why, therefore, dost thou imagine that thou canst deceivethy Maker?

There are some who try to cover their sin by prevarication. With cunning subtlety they strive to evade personal responsibility. Memorable is the instance of David. I will not dwellupon his flagrant crime; but I must remind you of his sorry subterfuge, when he tried to hide the baseness of his lust byconspiring to cause the death of Uriah. There have been those who have schemed deep and long to throw the blame on others,even to the injury of their reputation, toescape the odium of their own malpractices. Who knows but in this congregation there may be someone who affects a highsocial position, supported by a deep mercantile immorality? Merchants there have been that have swollen before the publicas men of wealth, while they were falsifying their acoounts, abstracting money, yet making the books tally, rolling in luxury,and living in jeopardy. Have they prospered? Were they to be envied? The detection that long haunted them at length overtookthem;could they look it in the face? We have heard of their blank despair, their insane suicide; at any rate, a miserable exposurehas been their melancholy climax. "Be sure your sin will find you out." You may run the length of your tether. It is short.The hounds of justice, swift of scent and strong of limb, are on your trail. Rest assured, you will be discovered. Could youescape the due reward in this life, yet certainly your guilt is known in heaven, and you shall be judged and condemned inthat great day which shall decide your eternal destiny. Seek not, then, to cover up sin with such transparent cobwebsas these.

Some people flatter themselves that their sin has already been hidden away by the lapse of time. "It was so very long ago," says one, "I had almost forgotten it; I was a lad at the time." "Aye," says another, "I am gray-headednow. It must have been twenty or thirty years ago. Surely you do not think that the sin of my far-off days will be broughtout against me? The thing is gone by. Time must have obliterated it." Not so, my friend. It may be the lapse of timewill only make the discovery the more clear. A boy once went into his father's orchard, and there in his rough play hebroke a little tree which his father valued. But, rapidly putting it together again, he managed to conceal the fact, for thedisunited parts of the tree took kindly to each other, and the tree stood as before. It so happened that more than forty yearsafterwards he went into that garden after a storm had blown across it in the night, and he found that the tree had been rivenintwo, and it had snapped precisely in the place where he had broken it when it was but a sapling. So there may come a crashto your character precisely in that place where you sinned when yet a lad. Ah! how often the transgressions of our youth remainwithin our bosoms! There lie the eggs of our young sin, and they hatch when men come into riper years. Don't be so sure thatthe lapse of time will consign your faults and follies to oblivion. You sowed your wild oats, sir; you have got to reapthem. The time that has intervened has only operated to make that evil seed spring up, and you are so much the nearerto the harvest. Time does not change the hue of sin in the sight of God. If a man could live a thousand years, the sins ofhis first year would be as fresh in the memory of the Almighty as those of the last. Eternity itself will never wash out asin. Flow on, ye ages; but the scarlet spots on the sand. Flow on still in mighty streams, but the damning spot is there still.Neithertime nor eternity can cleanse it. Only one thing can remove sin. The lapse of time cannot. Let not any of you be so foolishas to hope it will.

When the trumpet of the resurrection sounds, there will be a resurrection of characters, as well as of men. The man who hasbeen foully slandered will rejoice in the light that reflects his purity. But the man whose latent vices have been skilfullyveneered will be brought to the light too. His acts and motives will be alike exposed. As he himself looks and sees the resurrectionof his crimes, with what horror will he face that day of judgment! "Ah! ah!" says he, "Where amI? I had forgotten these. These are the sins of my childhood, the sins of my youth, the sins of my manhood, and the sinsof my old age. I thought they were dead and buried, but they start from their tombs. My memory has been quickened. How mybrain reels as I think of them all! But there they are, and, like so many wolves around me, they seem all thirsting for mydestruction." Beware, oh! men. Ye have buried your sins, but they will rise up from their graves and accuse you before God.Timecannot cover them.

Or do any of you imagine that your tears can blot out transgressions? That is a gross mistake. Could your tears for ever flow; could you be transformed into a Niobe, and do nothing else but weepfor aye, the whole flood could not wash out a single sin. Some have supposed that there may be efficacy in baptismal water,or in sacramental emblems, or in priestly incantations, or in confession to a priest-one who asks them to disclose their secretwickedness to him, andbetrays a morbid avidity to make his breast the sewer into which all kinds of uncleanness should be emptied. Be not deceived.There is nothing in these ordinances of man, or these tricks of Romish priestcraft (I had almost said of witchcraft, the twoare so much alike) to excuse the folly of those who are beguiled by them. You need not catch at straws when the rope is thrownout to you. There is pardon to be had; remission is to be found; forgivenness can be procured. Turn your back on yondershavelings; lend not your ear to them, neither be ye the victims of their snares. In the street each day it makes one'ssoul sad to see them. Like the Pharisees of old, they wear their long garments to deceive. You cannot mistake them. Theirsilly conceit publishes their naked shame. Confide not in them for a moment. Christ can forgive you. God can blot out yoursin. But they cannot ease your conscience by their penances, or remove your transgressions by their celebrations.

Thus I have gone through a rough, not very accurate, list of the ways by which men hope to cover their sin, but they "shallnot prosper." None of these shall succeed.

A more joyous task devolves on me now, while I draw your attention to my second text, "Thou hast covered all their sin."

II. GOD'S COVERING.

This fact is affirmed concerning the people of God. All who have trusted in the atoning sacrifice which was presented by theLord Jesus Christ upon Calvary may accept this welcome assurance, "God. has covered all their sin." How this hath come topass I will tell you. Before ever God covers a man's sins he unveils them. Did you ever see your sins unveiled? Did it ever seem as if the Lord put his hand upon you, and said, "Look, look at them"?Have you been led to seeyour sins as you never saw them before? Have you felt their aggravations fit to drive you to despair? As you have lookedat them, has the finger of detection seemed to point out your blackness? Have you discovered in them a depth of guilt, andiniquity, and hell-desert which never struck your mind before? I recollect a time when that was a spectacle always beforethe eyes of my conscience. My sin was ever before me. If God thus makes you see your sin in the light of his countenance,depend uponit he has his purposes of mercy toward you. When you see and confess it, he will blot it out. So soon as God, in infiniteloving-kindness, makes the sinner know in truth that he is a sinner, and strips him of the rags of his self-righteousness,he grants him pardon and clothes his nakedness. While he stands shivering before the gaze of the Almighty, condemned, theguilt is purged from his conscience. I do not know of a more terrible position in one's experience than to stand with an angryGodgazing upon you, and to know that wherever God's eye falls upon you it sees nothing but sin; sees nothing in you but whathe must hate and must abhor. Yet this is the experience through which God puts those to whom he grants forgiveness. He makesthem know that he sees how sinful they are, and he makes them feel how vile and leprous they are. His justice withers theirpride; his judgment appals their heart. They are humbled in the very dust, and made to cry out-each man trembling for hisownsoul-"God be merciful to me, a sinner!"

Not till this gracious work of conviction is fully wrought does the Lord appear with the glorious proclamation that whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus shall have his sins covered. That proclamation. I have now openly to publish andpersonally to deliver to you. With your outward ears you may have heard it hundreds of times. It is old, yet ever new. Whosoeveramong you, knowing himself to be guilty, will come and put his trust in Jesus Christ, shall have his sinscovered. "Can God do that?" Yes, he can. He alone can cover sin: Against him the sin was committed. It is the offended person who must pardon the offender. No one else can. He is the King.He has the right to pardon. He is the Sovereign Lord, and he can blot out sin. Beside that, he can cover it lawfully, forthe Lord Jesus Christ (though ye know the story, let me tell it again-the song of redemption always rings out a charming melody),Jesus Christ, the Father's dear Son, in order thatthe justice of God might be vindicated, bare his breast to its dreadful hurt, and suffered in our room, and place, andstead, what we ought to have suffered as the penalty of our sin. Now the sacrifice of God covers sin-covers it right over;and he more than covers it, he makes it cease to be. Moreover, the Lord Jesus kept the law of God, and his obedience stands,instead of our obedience; and God accepts him and his righteousness on our behalf, imputing his merits to our souls.

Oh! the virtue of that atoning blood! Oh! the blessedness of that perfect righteousness of the Son of God, by which he coversour sins!

There are two features of covering I should like to recall to your recollection. The one was the mercy-seat or propitiatory,over the golden ark, wherein were the tables of stone. Those tables of stone seemed, as it were, to reflect the sins of Israel.As in a mirror they reflected the transgression of God's people. God was above, as it were, looking down between the cherubicwings. Was he to look down upon the law defied and defiled by Israel? Ah! no; there was put overthe top of the ark, as a lid which covered it all, a golden lid called the mercy-seat, and when the Lord looked down helooked upon that lid which covered sin. Beloved, such is Jesus Christ, the covering for all our sins. God sees no sin in thosewho are hidden beneath Jesus Christ.

There was another covering at the Red Sea. On that joyous day when the Egyptians went down into the midst of the sea pursuingthe Israelites, at the motion of Moses' rod the waters that stood upright like a wall leapt back into their natural bed andswallowed up the Egyptians. Great was the victory when Miriam sang, "The depths have covered them. There is not one of themleft." It is even so that Jesus Christ's atonement has covered up our sins. They are sunk in hissepulchre; they are buried in his tomb. His blood, like the Red Sea, has drowned them. "The depths have covered them.There is not one of them left." Against the believer there is not a sin in God's Book recorded. He that believeth in him isperfectly absolved. "Thou hast covered all their sin." I shall not have time to dwell upon the sweetness of this fact, butI invite you that believe to consider its preciousness; and I hope you who have not believed will feel your mouth wateringafter it;to know that every sin one has ever committed, known and unknown, is gone-covered by Christ. To be assured that when Jesusdied he did not die for some of our sins, but for all the sins of his people; not for their sins up till now, but for allthe sins they ever will commit! Well does Kent put it:-

"Here's pardon for transgressions past,

It matters not how black they're cast

And O, my soul, with wonder view

For sins to come here's pardon too."

The atonement was made before the sin was committed. The righteousness was presented even before we had lived. "Thou hastcovered all their sin. It seems to me as if the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world, had in the purposeof God, from the foundation of the world, covered all his people's sins. Therefore, we are accepted the Beloved, and dearto the Father's heart. Oh! what a joy it is to get a hold of something like this truth, especially whenthe truth gets a hold of you-when you can feel by the inwrought power and witness of the Holy Ghost that your sins arecovered-that you dare stand up before a rein-trying, heart-searching God, and give thanks that every transgression you evercommitted is hid from the view of those piercing eyes through Jesus Christ your Lord.

Some people think we ought not to talk thus, that it is presumptuous. But really there is more presumption in doubting thanthere is in believing. For a child to believe his father's word is never presumption. I like to credit my Father's word. "Hethat believeth in him is not condemned." Condemned I am not, for I know I do believe in him. "Who is he that condemneth? Itis Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who alsomaketh intercession for us."

Beloved, the covering is as broad as the sin. The covering completely covers, and for ever covers; for as God sees to-dayno sin in those who are washed in Jesus' blood, so will he never see any. You are accepted with an acceptance that nothingcan change. Whom once he loves he never leaves, but loves them to the end. The reason of his love to them does not lie intheir merits nor their charms; the cause of love is in himself. The ground of his acceptance of them is in theperson and work of Christ. Whatever they may be, whatever their condition of heart may be, they are accepted, becauseChrist lived and died. It is not a precarious or a conditional, but an eternal acceptance.

Would you enjoy the blessedness of this complete covering? Cowering down beneath the tempest of Jehovah's wrath, which youfeel in your conscience, would you obtain this full remission? Behold the gates of the City of Refuge which stand wide open.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed! to the thirsty, needy, labouring, weary soul. Not merely open are the gates,but the invitation to enter is given. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I willgive you rest." You are bidden to lay hold upon eternal life. The way of doing so is simple. No works of yours, no merits,no tears, no preparations are required, but trust-trust-that is all. Believe in Jesus. Rely upon him; depend upon him; dependupon him. I have heard of Homer's Iliad being enclosed in a nutshell, so small was it written; but here is the Plain Man'sGuide to Heaven in a nutshell. Here is the essence of the whole gospel in one short sentence. "Believe in the Lord JesusChrist, and thou shalt be saved." Trust him; trust him. That is the meaning of that word believe. Depend upon him, andas surely as thou doest it, nor death, nor hell, nor sin shall ever separate thee from the love of him whom thou hast embraced,from the protection of him in whose power thou hast taken shelter. The Lord lead you to cower beneath his covering wings,and grant you to be found in Christ, accepted in the Beloved. So shall your present peace be the foretaste of your eternalfelicity. Amen.