August 18, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house." — Jeremiah 51:51 · KJV

In this account the faces of the Lord's people were covered with shame, for it was a terrible thing that men should force their way into the Holy Place reserved for the priests alone. All around us we see like cause for grief. How many ungodly men now train with a view to entering the ministry! What a crying sin it is when a whole population is counted Christian in name only, born into a nominal church without being born again! How fearful that the ordinances should be pressed on the unconverted, and that even among more enlightened churches there is such laxity of discipline. If the thousands who read this page will each lay the matter before the Lord Jesus today, He will intervene and avert the evil that would otherwise come upon His church. To adulterate the church is to poison a well, to pour water on fire, to sow a fertile field with stones. May we all have grace to guard, each in our own way, the purity of the church as an assembly of believers — not a nation, an unsaved crowd of unconverted men. But our zeal must begin at home. Let us examine our own right to eat at the Lord's table; let us see that we have on our wedding garment, lest we ourselves be intruders in the Lord's sanctuaries. Many are called, but few are chosen; the way is narrow, and the gate is strait. O for grace to come to Jesus rightly, with the faith of God's elect! He who struck Uzzah for touching the ark is very jealous over His two ordinances: as a true believer I may approach them freely; as a stranger I must not touch them, lest I die. Heart-searching is the duty of all who are baptized or come to the Lord's table. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts."