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He thought he was praying in vain.
The tears gushed from his eyes;
his heart was heavy within him;
he sought, but he found no mercy.
Again, again, and yet again, he besieged the throne
of heavenly grace and knocked at mercy’s door.
Oh! who can tell the mill-stone that lay upon his
beating heart, and the iron that did eat into his soul.
He was a prisoner in sore bondage; deep, as he thought,
in the bondage of despair was he chained, to perish forever.
That prisoner one day heard a Voice, which said to him,
“Away, away to Calvary!”
Yet he trembled at the voice, for he said,
“Why should I go there, for there my blackest sin was
committed; there I murdered the Savior by my transgressions?
Why should I go to see the murdered corpse of Him
who became my brother born for adversity?”
But Mercy beckoned, and she said,
“Come, come away, sinner!”
And the sinner followed.
The chains were on his legs and on his hands,
and he could scarcely creep along.
Still the black vulture Destruction seemed hovering in the air.
But he crept as best he could, till he came to the foot of the
hill of Calvary. On the summit he saw a cross; blood was
distilling from the hands, and from the feet, and from the
side, and Mercy touched his ears and said,
“Listen!”
And he heard that blood speak; and as it spoke,
the first thing it said was, “Love!”
And the second thing it said was, “Mercy!”
The third thing it said was, “Pardon.”
The next thing it said was, “Acceptance.”
The next thing it said was, “Adoption.”
The next thing it said was, “Security.”
And the last thing it whispered was, “Heaven.”
And as the sinner heard that voice, he said within himself,
“And does that blood speak to ME?”
And the Spirit said, “To you— to you it speaks.”
And he listened, and oh what music did it seem to his poor
troubled heart, for in a moment all his doubts were gone.
He had no sense of guilt.
He knew that he was vile, but he saw that
his vileness was all washed away.
He knew that he was guilty, but he saw his guilt all atoned
for, through the precious blood that was flowing there.
He had been full of dread before; he dreaded life,
he dreaded death; but now he had no dread at all;
a joyous confidence took possession of his heart.
He looked to Christ, and he said, “I know that my
Redeemer lives!” he clasped the Savior in his arms,
and he began to sing- “Oh! confident am I; for this
blest blood was shed for me.”
And then Despair fled, and Destruction was driven clean away.
And instead thereof came the bright white-winged angel of
Assurance, and she dwelt in his bosom, saying evermore to him-
“You are accepted in the Beloved:
you are chosen by God and precious:
you are his child now, and you shall be
his favorite throughout eternity.”
- Charles Spurgeon's sermon, "THE VOICE OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST"
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