GAL. v. 7. “Ye did run well;
who did hinder you that should not obey the truth?”
I. APPLY this text to professors of religion. You did run
well when you first joined the Church. Yet I fear most of
us will have to plead guilty to being hindered in the race.
Who did hinder you?
Do you lay the fault at the door of your fellow-Chris-
tians? Has it been worldly companions whose fellowship
you have rather sought than shunned? No small part is
due to the old serpent, the first Tempter—the Devil. God
help us, if we have been loitering awhile, to gather up our
strength and cry to Him for more strength that we may
run with diligence the race set before us.
II. A word to the backsliders. Whatever your reason
for turning aside, return—return now!
III. There is a class of persons having a measure of
affection which never came to maturity. They were once
attentive and earnest, but their enthusiasm has cooled by
trifling. But take heed of being hindered. Give up all
that hinders, and decide for your own soul’s welfare.
Charles H. Spurgeon