Spurgeon: August PM
* 08/25/PM
"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."
--Acts 8:37
These words may answer your scruples, devout reader,
concerning the ordinances . Perhaps you say, "I should be
afraid to be baptized; it is such a solemn thing to avow myself
to be dead with Christ, and buried with Him. should not feel at
liberty to come to the Master's table; I should be afraid of
eating and drinking damnation unto myself, not discerning the
Lord's body." Ah! poor trembler, Jesus has given you liberty, be
not afraid. If a stranger came to your house, he would stand at
the door, or wait in the hall; he would not dream of intruding
unbidden into your parlour--he is not at home: but your child
makes himself very free about the house; and so is it with the
child of God. A stranger may not intrude where a child may
venture. When the Holy Ghost has given you to feel the spirit of
adoption, you may come to Christian ordinances without fear. The
same rule holds good of the Christian's inward privileges . You
think, poor seeker, that you are not allowed to rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory; if you are permitted to get
inside Christ's door, or sit at the bottom of His table, you
will be well content. Ah! but you shall not have less privileges
than the very greatest. God makes no difference in His love to
His children. A child is a child to Him; He will not make him a
hired servant; but he shall feast upon the fatted calf, and
shall have the music and the dancing as much as if he had never
gone astray. When Jesus comes into the heart, He issues a
general licence to be glad in the Lord. No chains are worn in
the court of King Jesus. Our admission into full privileges may
be gradual, but it is sure. Perhaps our reader is saying, "I
wish I could enjoy the promises, and walk at liberty in my
Lord's commands." "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou
mayest." Loose the chains of thy neck, O captive daughter, for
Jesus makes thee free.