Evening, August 25

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"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. I 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.