Spurgeon: July PM
* 07/06/PM
"How many are mine iniquities and sins?"
--Job 13:23
Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin
of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression,
and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower
up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each
other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon
Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is
in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children!
Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude
of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you
will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the
people for whom Jesus shed His blood. But we arrive at a more
adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the
remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and
well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before
Him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround His glorious
throne. "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen." And yet He
takes upon Himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and
pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but
the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for
our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite
value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's
people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably
greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a
black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet
stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and
cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea
rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his
sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes
it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark
night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene
splendour.