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The worst enemies of the Church!
Spurgeon, "The Gospel's Power in a Christian's Life"
Oh! the great thing the Church needs is more holiness.
The worst enemies of the Church are the hypocrites, the
formalists the mere professors, the inconsistent walkers.
It is shocking to think how persons dare to remain
members of Christian churches, and even to enter
the pulpit, when they are conscious that their
private life is foul. Oh, how can they do it?
How is it that their hearts have grown so hard?
What! has the devil bewitched them? Has he
turned them away from being men, and made
them as devilish as himself, that they should
dare to pray in public, and to sit at the sacramental
table, and to administer ordinances, while their
hands are foul, and their hearts unclean, and
their lives are full of sin?
I charge you, if there are any of you whose lives
are not consistent, give up your profession, or
else make your lives what they should be.
May the eternal Spirit, who still winnows his Church,
blow away the chaff, and leave only the good golden
wheat upon the floor!
And if you know yourselves to be living in any sin,
may God help you to mourn over it, to loathe it,
to go to Christ about it tonight; to take hold of
him, to wash his feet with your tears, to repent
unfeignedly, and then to begin anew in his strength,
a life which shall be such as becomes the gospel.
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