DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Our heart is filled with the praise which shall make us sit silent—praise sits silent on our tongues. We can never sufficiently express your goodness. But we ask also that this morning in coming to the cross, we might then exhibit before you a true repentance for sin. But what have we done? We have put to death the Son of God! What have we done? It seemed playing when we sinned, but it turns out to be dreadful work, work of the most solemn kind. We playfully brought ourselves into a mischief, out of which nothing could redeem us but his death. We laughed and sported when we transgressed, but it cost him cries and tears and bloody sweat, and agonies unknown, to bring us back again from our foolish wandering.
God forgive us—yes, you have forgiven us! This sacrifice of Christ upon which we do rely is the assurance that you have put away our sin—that we shall not die here. As the Scapegoat, he has carried our transgressions into the wilderness of forgetfulness: they shall not be numbered against us any more for ever. But Lord, while you forgive us, we cannot forgive ourselves. We would chide ourselves as long as we live for having cost our Lord so dear. Such love, and such an ill return!
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other for an uninhabitable place, he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot for an uninhabitable place is to be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement with it by sending it into the wilderness for an uninhabitable place.” (Leviticus 16:8–10)
These two goats were not for himself but for the people. We must regard them as if they were but one offering, for it needed both of them to set forth the divine plan by which sin is put away. One was to die, and the other was, typically, to bear away the sin of the people. One goat was to show how sin is put away in reference to God by sacrifice, and the other goat was to show how it is put away in reference to us, God’s people, by being carried into oblivion.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Dive in Deep to Spurgeon’s Earliest Writings*
Like many of you, I’ve been a big fan of Spurgeon for years. His preaching ministry, even over 120 years after his death, has been a constant source of hope and encouragement for me.
If you’re a Spurgeon fan like me, you need to check out The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon. These books contain the outlines and manuscripts of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons — sermons that he preached while a teenage pastor at a small Baptist chapel. The content is absolutely incredible.
One really cool feature is that the sermon outlines have been annotated with critical notes featuring references to Spurgeon’s later preaching and writing. You can see how Spurgeon’s faithfulness to Scripture never wavered throughout his ministry.
This series really is a must-have for any student of Spurgeon. You will benefit richly from these sermons.
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