FEW men judge things aright. Most people measure by appearances; few know the teat of reality. We pronounce the man blessed who grasps the sceptre or wears the crown; whereas perhaps no peasant in his dominions enjoys less happiness than he does. We pronounce that man blessed who has uninterrupted and perpetual health; but we know not the secret gnawings of the heart, devoured by its own anguish, and embittered by a sorrow that a stranger cannot perceive. We call the wise man happy, because he understandeth all things, from the hyssop on the wall to the cedar of Lebanon; but he saith, “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” We are all for pronouncing our neighbour’s lot happier than our own. As Young says of mortality, “All men think all men mortal but themselves,” we are apt to think all men happy but ourselves. But oh! if we could see things as they are,—if we were not deceived by the masquerade of this poor life,—if we were not so easily taken in by the masks and dresses of those who act in this great drama, be it comedy or tragedy,—if we could but see what the men are behind, the scenes, penetrate their hearts, watch their inner motions and discern their secret feelings, we should find but few who could bear the name of “blessed.” Indeed, there are none except those who come under the description of my text, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” He is blessed, thrice blessed, blessed for evermore, blessed of heaven, blessed of earth, blessed for time, blessed for eternity, but the man whose sin is not forgiven is not blessed,—the mouth of Jehovah hath said it, and God shall manifest that cursed is every man whose transgression is not forgiven, whose sin is not covered.
Charles Spurgeon
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 53 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1907), 409. Vol. 53, Sermon No. 3,054; Titled: Pardon and Justification; Published on Thursday, August 22, 1907. Click here for a free PDF of this sermon. | Listen to this sermon RePreached.
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Covenant theology glorifies God alone. There are other theologies abroad which magnify men; they give him a finger in his own salvation, and so leave him a reason for throwing up his cap and saying, “Well done I;” but covenant theology puts man aside, and makes him a debtor and a receiver. It does, as it were, plunge him into the sea of infinite grace and unmerited favour, and it makes him give up all boasting, stopping the mouth that could have boasted by filling it with floods of love, so that it cannot utter a vainglorious word. A man saved by the covenant must give all the glory to God’s holy name, for to God all the glory belongs. In salvation wrought by the covenant the Lord has exclusive glory.