From the Spurgeon Archive: "Compel Them to Come In (3)

And now I see you again. You are not only poor, but you are maimed.
There was a time when you thought you could work out your own
salvation without God's help, when you could perform good works,
attend to ceremonies, and get to heaven by yourselves; but now you are
maimed, the sword of the law has cut off your hands, and now you can
work no longer; you say, with bitter sorrow--

"The best performance of my hands,
Dares not appear before thy throne."

You have lost all power now to obey the law; you feel that when you
would do good, evil is present with you. You are maimed; you have
given up, as a forlorn hope, all attempt to save yourself, because you
are maimed and your arms are gone. But you are worse off than that,
for if you could not work your way to heaven, yet you could walk your
way there along the road by faith; but you are maimed in the feet as
well as in the hands; you feel that you cannot believe, that you cannot
repent, that you cannot obey the stipulations of the gospel. You feel that
you are utterly undone, powerless in every respect to do anything that
can be pleasing to God. In fact, you are crying out--

"Oh, could I but believe,
Then all would easy be,
I would, but cannot, Lord relieve,
My help must come from thee."

To you am I sent also. Before you am I to lift up the blood-stained
banner of the cross, to you am I to preach this gospel, "Whoso calleth
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved;" and unto you am I to cry,
"Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely."