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Full Assurance
A Series Of Messages For Anxious Souls
By Henry Allan Ironside
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BibleTruthPublishers.com
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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................11
PART ONE
1. Strivings After Assurance ..........................................15
As an Itinerant Preacher ............................................................ 16
Help for the Needy Soul ............................................................18
e Barber Was Much Concerned ............................................19
2. Assurance Forever ...................................................... 23
e Dying Lawyer ..................................................................... 24
A Sure Remedy ...........................................................................26
e Old Account Settled ...........................................................28
Christ’s Resurrection Gives Assurance .......................................30
3. Much Assurance ........................................................33
e Woman Was Dying .............................................................35
Queen Victoria Decides the Question .......................................38
at Dreadful Night in Egypt ................................................... 39
Not Saved by Good Works ........................................................ 41
4. Full Assurance of Faith .............................................. 45
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Consider the Troubled Israelite ..................................................48
e Old Gentleman Had No Peace ...........................................49
Emotional Element in Conversion ............................................. 53
5. Full Assurance of Understanding ...............................55
e Newborn Irishman ..............................................................57
Discouraged Christians ..............................................................58
Another Irishman Shouts “Glory” ..............................................61
Go On! Go On! Go On! ............................................................62
6. Full Assurance of Hope .............................................65
Praying for Patience ...................................................................67
e Young Man Convinced ....................................................... 68
e Unhappy Backslider .............................................................70
e Great School of Grace ........................................................ 72
7. Assurance Unto All Men ........................................... 75
Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Real ..............................................77
What the Resurrection of Christ Attests ...................................79
God’s Assurance at Christ Arose ........................................... 83
8. Assurance of Heart ....................................................87
An English Barrister Counsels a Young Man ............................88
A Changed Attitude Gives Assurance .......................................91
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How Two Dierent Families Act ..............................................92
Line of Demarkation Becomes Evident .....................................94
PART TWO
1. Diculties Which Hinder Full Assurance ................99
1. “How may 1 be sure that I have repented enough?” ..............100
2. “I do not feel t for God; I am so unworthy, I fear He will not take
me in.” .................................................................................101
3. “I am afraid I am too great a sinner ever to be saved.” ...........102
4. “But what if I am not one of the elect?” .................................103
5. “Sometimes I am afraid that I am predestinated to be damned; if so, I
can do nothing to alter my terrible case.” ................................104
6. “I am trying to believe, but I have no assurance of salvation.” 106
7. “But must I not feel dierent?” ..................................................106
8. “I can see that God has done His part in the work of my salvation,
but must I not do my part if I would avail myself of what He has
done?” ..................................................................................108
9. “It is not exactly that I do not trust God, but I cannot be sure of
myself; I am afraid even my faith is unreal.” ..........................109
10. “But the Bible says faith is the gift of God and that all men have
not faith; perhaps it is not the will of God to give me saving
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faith.” ................................................................................... 110
11. “What troubles me is that I am not sure I have accepted Christ.” 111
12. Sometimes I believe I have trusted Jesus and am justied before
God, but I cannot forget my sins; they come before me night and
day. Surely, if I were really forgiven I could forget the past.” ...111
13. “I often come to the point of deciding for Christ, then I draw back
because I am afraid I cannot, hold out.” ..................................112
14. “But must I not hold on to the end if I would be saved at last?”
112
15. “Must I not strive, if I would enter in at the strait gate? It seems to
me just believing is too easy a way.” .......................................114
16. “Do I not have to wait God’s time? I can do nothing about it
until He is ready to save me.”.............................................115
17. “I really want to come to Jesus, but 1 do not seem to know how
to do so.” ............................................................................116
18. “Must I not pray through until I get the witness that I am saved?” .
117
19. “Sometimes I fear that I have sinned away my day of grace, for
though I have been seeking the Lord for a long time, I do not seem
to nd Him.” ........................................................................118
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20. “But how can I be sure that my faith is strong enough to save my
soul?” ....................................................................................120
21. “But must I not keep the law in order to be saved?” ..................121
Even One Oense Means Guilt ..............................................125
22. “But must I not rst make restitution for all the wrongs I have
done to other people before I can come to Christ and be forgiven?” ..
126
23. “I have a humble hope that I am a Christian, but I dare not be
too sure. I cannot see how any one can be certain until after
the Day of Judgment.” ....................................................... 127
24. “Must I not rst be baptized before I can know that I am saved?” ...
128
25. “If I could only be sure 1 was in the right church, I would feel secure;
but there are so many dierent churches that I get all confused and
upset.” ..................................................................................130
26. “I believe that Jesus died for me, but I am afraid to say I am saved,
for 1 know I do not love God as much as I should.” .................131
27. “At times I feel assured that all is well, but at other times I tremble,
fearing that I am mistaken.” .................................................. 132
28. ere have been times when 1 had very denite assurance of my
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Introduction
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Introduction
IN penning the following pages, I have had but one
outstanding object before me: to make as plain as I
possibly can just how any troubled soul may nd settled
peace with God. I am thinking particularly of those people
who believe the Holy Scriptures to be divinely inspired,
and who recognize that salvation is only to be found in
Christ, but someway have missed the “peace of a perfect
trust,” and though earnestly desiring to know the Lord, are
oundering in perplexity of mind, like Bunyan’s Pilgrim, in
the Slough of Despond, or like the same anxious inquirer
in his earlier experience, trembling beneath the frowning
clis of Sinai.
Consequently, no attempt is here made to prove that
the Bible is true, as both the writer and the readers he
has specially in view take that for granted. People who
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are bothered by doubts along that line may nd abundant
help elsewhere, as there are not wanting plenty of good
books, written by sound Christian scholars, that present
unanswerable arguments for the inerrancy and the
divine authority of the Bible. e trouble is that so many
people who profess to want help along these lines are too
indierent to investigate, even when the opportunity is put
before them. It is of really earnest seekers after the truth
that I am thinking.
For many months I was myself in much doubt and
confusion of thought until God by His Holy Spirit showed
me through His Word the true ground of peace. at was
many years ago, and as I write I nd myself living over
again the conict of those days, and recalling, as though it
were but yesterday, the gladness that lled my soul when
I rested in Christ alone, and entered into a lasting peace
with God that has known no disturbance throughout the
years.
e clouds may at times veil my sky. Sorrows and
diculties may try my soul. New discoveries of the
corruption of my own heart may bring humiliation and
repentance. But this peace with God remains unchanged,
for it rests not on me, not on my frames of mind or
experiences, but on the nished work of Christ and the
testimony of the Word of God, of which it is written:
“Forever, 0 Lord, thy word 3 settled in heaven.”
Introduction
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<Section>
PART ONE
1. Strivings After Assurance
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1. Strivings After Assurance
IN a ministry of almost half a century, I have had the
joy of leading many to rest in Christ. And I have found
that the questions that perplex, and the hindrances to
full assurance are all more or less basically alike, though
expressed dierently by dierent people. So I have sought
in this little volume to set forth, as clearly as I know how,
the truths that I have proven specic in meeting the needs
of thousands of souls.
I have been told that in days gone by young doctors
were in the habit of using a great number of medicines in
their endeavors to help their various patients, but that with
increasing practice and larger experience, they discarded
many remedies which they found were of little use and
thereafter concentrated on a few that they had proven to
be really worth while.
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e physician of souls is likely to have much the
same experience, and while this may give a somewhat
uninteresting sameness to his later ministrations, as
compared or contrasted with his earlier ones, it puts him
after all in the immediate succession of the apostles of
our Lord, whose viewpoint may be summed up in words
written by the greatest of them all: “I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucied.” Here is the sovereign remedy for all spiritual ills.
Here is the one supreme message that is needed, whether
they realize it or not, by all men everywhere. And this I
have tried to proclaim in these unpretending pages.
As an Itinerant Preacher
For the most of my life I have been an itinerant preacher
of the gospel, traveling often as much as thirty to forty
thousand miles a year to proclaim the unsearchable riches
of Christ. In all these years I only recall two occasions on
which I have missed my trains. One was by becoming
confused between what is known as daylight saving and
standard time. e other was through the passive assurance
of a farmer-host, who was to drive me from his country
home into the town of Lowry, Minnesota, in time for me
to take an afternoon train for Winnipeg, on which I had a
Pullman reservation. I can remember yet how I urged my
friend to get on the way, but he pottered about with all
kinds of inconsequential chores, insistent that there was
plenty of time. I fumed and fretted to no purpose. He was
calmly adamant.
Finally, he hitched up his team and we started across the
prairie. About a mile from town we saw the train steam into
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the station, pause a few moments, and depart for the north.
ere was nothing to do but wait some ve or six hours for
the night express, on which I had no reservation, and found
when it arrived I could not get a berth, so was obliged to
sit in a crowded day coach all the way to the Canadian
border, after which there was more room. While annoyed,
I comforted myself with the words, “And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose.” I prayed
earnestly that if He had some purpose in permitting me to
miss my train and comfortable accommodations, I might
not fail to nd it out.
When I boarded the crowded, foul-smelling coach, I
found there was only one vacancy left and that was half of a
seat midway down the car, a sleeping young man occupying
the other half. As I sat down by him and stowed away my
baggage, he awoke, straightened up, and gave me a rather
sleepy greeting. Soon we were in an agreeable, low-toned
conversation, while other passengers slept and snored
all about us. A suitable opportunity presenting itself, I
inquired, “Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?” He sat up
as though shot. “How strange that you should ask me that!
I went to sleep thinking of Him and wishing I did know
Him, but I do not understand, though I want to! Can you
help me?”
Further conversation elicited the fact that he had been
working in a town in southern Minnesota, where he had
been persuaded to attend some revival meetings. Evidently,
the preaching was in power and he became deeply
concerned about his soul. He had even gone forward to
the mourners’ bench, but though he wept and prayed over
his sins, he came away without nding peace. I knew then
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why I had missed my train. is was my Gaza, and though
unworthy I was sent of God to be his Philip. So I opened
to the same scripture that the Ethiopian treasurer had been
reading when Philip met him: Isa. 53.
Drawing my newly-found friend’s attention to its
wonderful depiction of the crucied Saviour, though
written so long before the event, I put before him verses 4,
5 and 6: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and aicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of out
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the Lord hat h laid on him the
iniquity of us all.”
As the young man read them, they seemed to burn their
Way into his very soul. He saw himself as the lost sheep
that had taken its own way. He saw Christ as the One on
whom Jehovah laid all his iniquity, and he bowed his head
and told Him he would trust Him as his own Saviour. For
perhaps two hours we had hallowed fellowship on the way,
as we turned from one scripture to another. en he reached
his destination and left, thanking me most profusely for
showing him the way of life. I have never seen him since,
but I know I shall greet him again at the judgment seat of
Christ.
Help for the Needy Soul
Into whose hands this book will fall I cannot tell, but I
send it forth with the prayer that it may prove as timely a
message to many a needy soul as the talk on the train that
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night in Minnesota with the young man who felt his need
and had really turned to God, but did not understand the
way of peace and so had no assurance, until he found it
through the written Word, borne home to his soul in the
power of the Holy Spirit.
If you are just as troubled as that young man, and should
by divine providence peruse this treatise at any time, I trust
that you will see that it is the Lord’s own way of seeking
to draw you to Himself, and that you will read it carefully,
thoughtfully, and prayerfully, looking up each passage
referred to in your own Bible, if you have one, and that
thus you, too, may obtain full assurance.
Be certain of this: God is deeply concerned about you.
He longs to give you the knowledge of His salvation. It
is no mere accident that these pages have come to your
attention. He put it on my heart to write them. He would
have you read them. ey may prove to be His own message
to your troubled soul. God’s ways are varied. “He worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will.”
e Barber Was Much Concerned
Another personal experience will perhaps accentuate
and ttingly close this chapter. One afternoon I was walking
the busy streets of Indianapolis, looking for a barber shop.
Entering the rst one I saw (my attention being attracted
by the red and white striped pole), I was soon seated in
the chair, and the tonsorial artist began operations. He
was chatty but subdued, I thought, not carelessly voluble.
Praying for an opening, it soon seemed a tting time to,
ask, as in the other case, “Are you acquainted with the
Lord Jesus Christ?” To my astonishment, the barber’s
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reaction was remarkable. He stopped his work, burst into
uncontrollable weeping, and when the rst paroxysm had
passed, exclaimed, “How strange that you should ask me
about Him! In all my life I never had a man ask me that
before. And I have been thinking of Him nearly all the
time for the last three days. What can you tell me about
him?”
It was my turn to be amazed. I asked him what had led
up to this. He explained that he had gone to see a picture
of the Passion Play, and that it had made an indelible
impression on his mind. He kept asking, “Why did that
good Man have to suer so? Why did God let Him die like
that?” He had never heard the gospel in his life, so I spent
an hour with him opening up the story of the Cross We
prayed together and he declared that all was now plain, and
he trusted the Saviour for himself. I had the joy of knowing,
as I left his shop, that the gospel was indeed the dynamic of
God unto salvation to him, an uninstructed Greek barber,
who had learned for the rst time that Christ loved him
and gave Himself for him.
To me it was a singular instance of divine sovereignty.
e very idea of the Passion Play — sinful men endeavoring
to portray the life, death and resurrection of Jesus — was
abhorrent to me. But God, who delights, not in the death
of the sinner, but desires that all should turn to Him and
live, used that very picture to arouse this man and so make
him ready to hear the gospel. And I could not doubt that
He had directed my steps to that particular shop, that I
might have the joy of pointing the anxious barber to the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. at
in many similar instances He may be pleased to own and
use these written messages is my earnest desire.
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“Sovereign grace o’er sin abounding,
Ransomed souls the tidings tell;
‘Tis a deep that knows no sounding,
Who its length and breadth can tell?
On is glories, let my soul forever dwell.”
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2. Assurance Forever
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2. Assurance Forever
THERE is a very remarkable statement found in the
book of Isaiah, chapter thirty-two, verse 17: “e work of
righteousness shall be peace; and the eect of righteousness
quietness and assurance forever.”
Assurance forever! Is it not a wonderfully-pleasing
expression? Assurance not for a few days, or weeks, or
months — nor yet for a few years, or even a lifetime — but
forever! It is this blessed assurance that God delights to
impart to all who come to Him as needy sinners seeking
the way of life.
Two words are employed in this verse that are intimately
related — peace and assurance. Yet how many deeply-
religious people there are in the world who scarcely know
the meaning of either term. ey are honestly seeking after
God. ey are punctilious about their religious duties, such
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as reading the Scriptures, saying their prayers, attending
church, partaking of the sacrament, and supporting the
cause of Christ. ey are scrupulously honest and upright
in all their dealings with their fellowmen, endeavoring to
fulll every civic and national responsibility, and to obey
the golden rule. Yet they have no lasting peace, nor any
denite assurance of salvation. I am persuaded that in
practically every such instance the reason for their unquiet
and unsettled state is due to a lack of apprehension of
God’s way of salvation.
ough living seven centuries before Calvary, it was
given to Isaiah to set forth in a very blessed manner
righteousness of God as later revealed in the gospel. is
is not to be wondered at for he spoke as he was moved by
the Holy Spirit.
e key word of his great book, often called the fth
gospel, is the same as in the Epistle to the Romans-the
word, “righteousness.” And I would urge the reader to
meditate on this word for a little and see how it is used in
the Holy Scriptures.
e Dying Lawyer
A lawyer lay dying. He had attended church all his
life but was not saved. He was known to be a man of
unimpeachable integrity. Yet as he lay there facing eternity,
he was troubled and distressed. He knew that upright as
he had been before men, he was a sinner before God. His
awakened conscience brought to his memory sins and
transgressions that had never seemed so heinous as then,
when he knew that shortly he must meet his Maker.
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A friend put the direct question, “Are you saved?” He
replied in the negative, shaking his head sadly. e other
asked, “Would you not like to be saved?” “I would indeed,”
was his reply, “if it is not already too late. But,” he added
almost ercely, “I do not want God to do anything wrong
in saving me!”
His remark showed how deeply he had learned to value
the importance of righteousness. e visitor turned to
his Bible and there read how God had Himself devised
a righteous way to save unrighteous sinners. e fact is
that He has no other possible way of saving anybody. If sin
must be glossed over, in order that the sinner may be saved,
he will be forever lost. God refuses to compromise His own
character for the sake of anyone, much as He yearns to
have all men to be saved.
It was this that stirred the soul of Luther, and brought
new light and help after long, weary months of groping in
the darkness, trying in vain to save himself in conformity
to the demands of blind leaders of the blind. As he was
reading the Latin Psalter, he came across David’s prayer,
“Save me in thy righteousness.” Luther exclaimed, “What
does this mean? I can understand how God can damn
me in His righteousness, but if He would save me it must
surely be in His mercy!” e more he meditated on it, the
more the wonder grew. But little by little the truth dawned
upon his troubled soul that God Himself had devised a
righteous method whereby He could justify unrighteous
sinners who came to Him in repentance and received His
word in faith.
Isaiah stresses this great and glorious truth throughout
his marvelous Old Testament unfolding of the gospel plan.
In unsparing severity, the prophet portrays man’s utterly
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lost and absolutely hopeless condition, apart from divine
grace. “e whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no
soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and purtrefying
sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither
mollied with ointment” (Isa. 1:5, 6). It is surely a revolting
picture, but nevertheless it is true of the unsaved man as
God sees him. Sin is a vile disease that has fastened upon
the very vitals of its victim. None can free himself from its
pollution, or deliver himself from its power.
A Sure Remedy
But God has a remedy. He says, “Come now, and let us
reason together, said the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool” (v. 18). It is God Himself
who can thus purge the leper from all his uncleanness, and
justify the ungodly from all his guilt. And He does it, not
at the expense of righteousness, but in a perfectly righteous
way.
“‘Tis in the Cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be;
‘Tis in the Cross of Christ we trace
His righteousness and wondrous grace.
e sinner who believes is free,
Can say, the Saviour died for me;
Can point to the atoning blood
And say, at made my peace with God.”
So it is Isaiah who, above all other prophetic writers,
sets forth the work of the Cross. He looks on by the eye of
faith to Calvary, and there he sees the Holy Suerer dying
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for sins not His own. He exclaims, “He was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: e
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lout
(Jehovah) hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:5,
6).
Have you ever thoughtfully considered these remarkable
statements? If not, I beg you to ponder over them now: It
was Jesus that the Spirit of God brought before the mind of
Isaiah. He would have you gaze upon Him, too, Take each
clause separately and weigh its wondrous meaning: “He
was wounded for our transgressions.” Make it personal!
Put yourself and your own sins in there. Read it as though
it said, “He was wounded for my transgressions.” Do not
get lost in the crowd. If there had never been another sinner
in all the world, Jesus would have gone to the cross for you!
Oh, believe it and enter into peace!
“He was bruised for our iniquities.” Make it personal!
ink what your ungodliness and your self-will cost Him.
He took the blows that should have fallen upon you. He
stepped in between you and God, as the rod of justice was
about to fall. It bruised Him in your stead. Again, I plead,
make it personal! Cry out in faith, “He was bruised for my
iniquities.”
Now go farther: “e chastisement of our peace was
upon him.” All that was necessary to make peace with
God, He endured. “He made peace through the blood of
his cross.” Change the “our” to “my.” “He made my peace.”
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“He bore on the tree
e sentence for me,
And now both the surety
And sinner are free.”
Now note the last clause of this glorious verse, “With
his stripes we are healed.” Do you see it? Can you set to
your seal that God is true, and cry exultingly, “Yes, I a
poor sinner, I a lost, ruined soul, I who so richly deserved
judgment, I am healed by His stripes”?
“We are healed by His stripes,
Wouldst thou add to the Word?
He Himself is our righteousness made.
e best robe of heaven He bids thee put on,
Oh, couldst thou be better arrayed?”
e Old Account Settled
It is not that God ignores our sins, or indulgently
overlooks them; but on the cross all have been settled for.
In Isa. 53:6, He has balanced the books of the world. ere
were two debit entries:
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned every one to his own way.”
But there is one credit item that squares the account:
“Jehovah hath laid on him (that is, on Jesus at the cross) the
iniquity of us all.”
e rst debit entry takes into account our participation
in the fall of the race. Sheep follow the leader. One goes
through a hole in the fence and all follow after. So Adam
sinned and we are all implicated in his guilt. “Death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
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But the second entry takes into account our individual
wilfulness. Each one has chosen to sin in his own way, so we
are not only sinners by nature, but we are also transgressors
by practice. In other words, we are lost — utterly lost. But
“the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost” (Luke 19:10). By His sacricial death on the cross, He
has paid to outraged justice that which meets every charge
against the sinner. Now in perfect righteousness God can
oer a complete pardon and justication to all who trust
His risen Son.
us “the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the
eect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.”
e troubled conscience can now be at rest. God is satised
with what His Son has done. On that basis He can freely
forgive the vilest sinner who turns in repentance to the
Christ of the cross.
“e trembling sinner feareth
at God can ne’er forget;
But one full payment cleareth
His memory of all debt;
Returning sons He kisses,
And with His robe invests;
His perfect love dismisses
All terror from our breasts.”
He says to every believing soul, “I have blotted out,
as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy
sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee” (Isa:
44:22). And again, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins” (Isa. 43:25). You may never be able to forget the
years of wandering, the many sins of which you have been
guilty. But that which gives peace is the knowledge that
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God will never recall them again. He has blotted them
from the book of His remembrance, and He has done it
in righteousness, for the account is completely settled. e
debt is paid!
Christ’s Resurrection Gives Assurance
Christ’s bodily resurrection is the divine token that all
has been dealt with to God’s satisfaction. Jesus bore our
sins on the cross. He made Himself responsible for them.
He died to put them away forever. But God raised Him
from the dead, thereby attesting His good pleasure in the
work of His Son. Now the blessed Lord sits exalted at the
right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. He could not
be there if our sins were still upon Him. e fact that He
is there proves that they are completely put away. God is
satised!
“Payment He will not twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.”
It is this that gives quietness and assurance forever. When
I know that my sins have been dealt with in such a way that
God’s righteousness remains untarnished, even as He folds
me to His bosom, a justied believer, I have perfect peace.
I know Him now as “a just God and a Saviour” (Isa. 45:21).
He says, “I will bring near my righteousness; it shall not be
far o, and my salvation shall not tarry” (Isa. 46:13). What
cheering words are these! He has provided a righteousness,
His very own, for men who have none of their own! Gladly,
therefore, do I spurn all attempts at self-righteousness, to
be found in Him perfect and complete, clothed with His
righteousness.
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Every believer can say with the prophet, “I will greatly
rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be Forever
joyful in my God; for he path clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels”
(Isa. 61:10).
“Clad in this robe, how bright I shine;
Angels have not a robe like mine.”
It is given only to redeemed sinners to wear this garment
of glory. Christ Himself is the robe of righteousness.
We who trust Him are “in Christ”; we are “made the
righteousness of God in him” (2Cor. 5:21). He is “made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctication, and
redemption” (1Cor. 1:30). If my acceptance depended on
my growth in grace I could never have settled peace. It
would be egotism of the worst kind to consider myself so
holy that I could be satisfactory to God on the ground
of my personal experience. But when I see that “He hath
made us accepted in the beloved,” every doubt is banished.
My soul is at peace. I have quietness and assurance forever.
I know now that only
“at which can shake the Cross,
Can shake the peace it gave;
Which tells me Christ has never died,
Nor ever left the grave.”
As long as these great unchanging verities remain,
my peace is unshaken, my condence is secure. I have
“assurance forever.”
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32
Dear, anxious, burdened soul, do you not see it? Can
you not rest, where God rests, in the nished work of His
blessed Son? If He is satised to save you by faith in Jesus,
surely you should be satised to trust Him.
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33
153151
3. Much Assurance
When reminding the essalonian believers of the work
of God in their city, as a result of which they were saved, the
apostle Paul says: “We give thanks to God always for you
all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering
without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight
of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word
only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among
you for your sake. And ye became followers ok us, and of
the Lord, having received the word in much aiction, with
joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia:”
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34
is is a very striking declaration and all the more so
became it stands out in such vivid contrast with much that
goes under the name of evangelical testimony in our days.
It is not too much to say of perhaps the majority of sermons
preached in our myriads of churches, that one who was in
deep spiritual trouble might listen to them year in and year
out and be left in as great uncertainty as ever. ey give no
assurance to the hearers, whereas Paul’s preaching was of
such a character as to produce much assurance.
Consider the people addressed. Only a few months
before at the most, they were for the greater part pagan
idolaters, living in all kinds of sin and uncleanness. ey
had never been trained in Christian truth. A few among
them were Jews, and had some knowledge of the law and
the prophets. But the great majority by far were ignorant
heathen, given to superstitious and licentious practices, and
who were without any understanding of the way of life.
To them came Paul and his little company of itinerant
preachers — men of God whose lives evidenced the power
of the message they proclaimed. In dependence on the Holy
Spirit they preached Jesus Christ and Him crucied. ey
bore witness to His resurrection and present saving power,
and they declared He was coming back some day to be
judge of the living and the dead. It was the same missionary
message which has ever proven to be the dynamic of God
unto salvation to all who believe. Paul’s hearers were
convicted of their sin. ey realized something of the
corruption of their lives. ey turned to God as repentant
sinners, and believed the gospel they heard preached.
What was the result? ey became new creatures. eir
outward behavior reected the inward change. ey knew
they had passed out of darkness into light. ey did not
3. Much Assurance
35
simply cherish a pious hope that God had received them.
ey knew He had made them His own. ey had much
assurance! Could anything be more blessed?
Is it not strange that so much that passes for gospel
preaching today fails to produce this very-much-to-be-
desired result? Surely something is radically wrong when
people can be church-goers all their lives and never get
farther than to live in hope of receiving “dying grace” at
last!
e Woman Was Dying
An aged woman was reported to be dying. Her physician
had given up all hope of her recovery. Her minister was
called to her bedside to prepare her for the great change.
She was in much distress. Bitterly she lamented her sins,
her coldness of heart, her feeble eorts to serve the Lord.
Piteously, she besought her pastor to give what help he
could that dying grace might indeed be hers. e good
man was plainly disconcerted. He was not used to coming
to close quarters with dying souls anxious to be sure of
salvation. But he quoted and read various scriptures. His
eye fell on the words, “Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justied by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life” (Titus 3:5-7).
As he read the words with quivering voice, the dying
woman drank in their truth. “Not by works, but justied
by his grace!” She exclaimed, “Aye, minister, that’ll do; I
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36
can rest there. No works of mine to plead, just to trust His
grace. at will do. I can die in peace.” He prayed with
her and left, his own heart tenderly moved and grateful,
too, that he had been used to minister dying grace to this
troubled member of his ock. He hardly expected to see
her again on earth, but was comforted to feel that she
would soon be in heaven.
Contrary to her physician’s prediction, however, she
did not die but rallied from that very hour, and in a few
weeks was well again, a happy, rejoicing believer with much
assurance. She sent once more for the pastor, and put the
strange question to him: “God has given me dying grace
and now I am well again; what am I to do about it?” “Ah,
woman,” he exclaimed, “ye may just claim it as living grace
and abide in the joy of it.”
It was well put, but what a pity his preaching throughout
the years had not produced assurance long before in the
mind and heart of his anxious parishioner.
e essalonian believers did not have to wait until
facing death in order to enter into the positive knowledge
of sins forgiven. eir election of God was a reality to
themselves and to others, who saw what grace had wrought
in their lives.
And it was what Paul calls “our gospel,” and “my
gospel,” that produced all this. We are not left in any doubt
as to what that gospel was, for he has made it very clear
elsewhere. He had but one message, that Christ died for
our sins, was buried, and rose again. e import of this
received in faith destroyed doubt, banished uncertainty,
and produced much assurance.
Of course, back of the witness borne by the lips was the
witness of the life. Paul’s deportment among them was that
3. Much Assurance
37
of a man who lived in the atmosphere of eternity. A holy
minister of Christ preaching a clear gospel in the energy
of the Holy Spirit is bound to get results. Such a man is
a tremendous weapon in the hand of God for the pulling
down of satanic strongholds. But it was not the piety of the
messengers that gave assurance to those early believers. It
was the message itself which they received in faith.
It is a great mistake to attempt to rest one’s soul upon the
character of any preacher, however godly he may appear to
be. Faith is to rest, not in the best of God’s servants but in
His unchanging Word. Unhappily, it often transpires that
impressionable folk are carried away with admiration for
a minister of Christ, and they put their dependence upon
him, rather than upon the truth proclaimed.
“I was converted by Billy Sunday himself!” said one to
me, in answer to the question, “Are you certain that your
soul is saved?”
Mr. Sunday would have been the last of men to put
himself in the place of Christ. Further conversation seemed
to elicit the evidence that the person in question had been
carried away by admiration for the earnest evangelist and
mistook the “thrill of a handshake” for the Spirit’s witness.
At least, there seemed no real understanding of God’s
plan of salvation, which Billy Sunday preached in such
tremendous power.
en it is well to remember that some vivid emotional
experience is not a safe ground of assurance. It is the blood
of Christ that makes us safe and the Word of God that
makes us sure.
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Queen Victoria Decides the Question
ere is an apparently authentic story told of the great
Queen Victoria, so lone ruler of Britain’s vast empire.
When she occupied her castle at Balmoral, Scotland, she
was in the habit of calling, in a friendly way, upon certain
cottagers living in the neighborhood. One aged Highland
woman, who felt greatly honored by these visits and who
knew the Lord, was anxious about the soul of the queen.
As the season came to a close one year, her Majesty was
making her last visit to the humble home of this dear child
of God. After the good-byes were said, the old cottager
timidly inquired, “May I ask your gracious Majesty a
question?”
“Yes,” replied the queen, “as many as you like.”
“Will your Majesty meet me in heaven?”
Instantly the royal visitor replied, “I will, through the
all-availing blood of Jesus.”
at is the only safe ground for assurance. e blood
shed on Calvary avails for all classes alike.
When Israel of old were about to leave Egypt, and the
last awful plague was to fall on that land and its people,
God Himself provided a way of escape for His own. ey
were to slay a lamb, sprinkle its blood on the door-posts
and lintel of their houses, go inside and shut the door.
When the destroying angel passed through that night,
he would not be permitted to enter any blood-sprinkled
door, for Jehovah had said, “When I see the blood, I will
pass over you.” Inside the house, some might have been
trembling and some rejoicing, but all were safe. eir
security depended, not on their frames of mind, or feelings,
but on the fact that the eye of God beheld the blood of the
3. Much Assurance
39
lamb and they were sheltered behind it. As they recalled the
Word that He had given concerning it and truly believed
it, they would have much assurance.
So it is today! We cannot see the blood shed so long
ago for our redemption on Calvary, but there is a sense
in which it is ever before the eye of God. e moment
a repentant sinner puts his trust in Christ, he is viewed
by God as sheltered behind the blood-sprinkled lintel.
Henceforth his security from judgment depends, not on
his ability to satisfy the righteous demands of the Holy
One, but upon the blessed fact that Christ Jesus satised
them to the utmost when He gave Himself a ransom for
our sins, and thus made it possible for God to pass over all
our oenses and justify us from all things.
at Dreadful Night in Egypt
Imagine a Jewish youth on that night in Egypt
reasoning thus: “I am the rst-born of this family and
in thousands of homes tonight the rst-born must die. I
wish I could be sure that I was safe and secure, but when I
think of my many shortcomings, I am in deepest distress
and perplexity. I do not feel that I am by any means, good
enough to be saved when others must die. I have been very
willful, very disobedient, very undependable, and now I
feel so troubled and anxious. I question very much if I shall
see the morning light.”
Would his anxiety and self-condemnation leave him
exposed to judgment? Surely not! His father might well
say to him, “Son, what you say as to yourself is all true. Not
one of us has ever been all he should be. We all deserve
to die. But the death of the lamb was for you — the lamb
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died in your stead. e blood of the lamb outside the house
comes between you and the destroyer.”
One can understand how the young man’s face would
light up as he exclaimed, “Ah, I see it! It is not what I am
that saves me from judgment. It is the blood and I am safe
behind the blood-sprinkled door.” us he would have
“much assurance.” And in the same way, we now, who trust
in the testimony God has given concerning the atoning
work of His Son, enter into peace and know we are free
from all condemnation.
Perhaps some one may ask, “But does it make no
dierence to God what I am myself? May I live on in my
sins and still be saved?” No, assuredly not! But this brings in
another line of truth. e moment one believes the gospel,
he is born again and receives a new life and nature — a
nature that hates sin and loves holiness. If you have come
to Jesus and trusted Him, do you not realize the truth of
this? Do you not now hate and detest the wicked things
that once gave you a certain degree of delight? Do you not
nd within yourself a new craving for goodness, a longing
after holiness, and a thirst for righteousness? All this is the
evidence of a new nature. And as you walk with God you
will nd that daily the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit
will give you practical deliverance from the dominion of
sin.
is line of truth does not touch the question of your
salvation. It is the outcome of your salvation. First, get this
settled: you are justied not by anything done in you, but
by what Jesus did for you on the cross. But now He who
died for you works in you to conform you daily to Himself,
and to enable you to manifest in a devoted life the reality
of His salvation.
3. Much Assurance
41
e essalonians “turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from
heaven” e moment they turned to Him they were saved,
forgiven, justied, set apart to God in all the value of the
work of the Cross and the perfection of the resurrection
life of the Lord Jesus. ey were accepted in the Beloved!
God saw them in Christ. Believing thus, they had much
assurance.
is matter settled, they then yielded themselves unto
God as those alive from the dead, to serve Him who had
done so much for them, and they waited day by day for the
coming again of Him who had died for them, whom God
had raised from the dead and seated at His right hand in
highest glory.
Acceptable service springs from the knowledge that the
question of salvation is forever settled. We who are saved
by grace apart from all self eort are “created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God bath before ordained
that we should walk in them.”
Not Saved by Good Works
Notice, we are not saved by good works, but unto good
works. In other words, no one can begin to live a Christian
life until he has a Christian life to live. is life is divine
and eternal. It is imparted by God Himself to the one who
believes the gospel, as the apostle Peter tells us: “Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all esh
is as grass, and all the glory of man as the ower of grass.
e grass withereth, and the ower thereof falleth away:
but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the
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word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1Peter
1:23-25).
e new birth, therefore, is by the Word — the message
of the gospel — and the power of the Holy Spirit. “at
which is born of the esh is esh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.” ese were our Lord’s words to
Nicodemus. e one thus regenerated has eternal life and
can never perish. How do we know? Because He has told
us so.
Weigh carefully the precious words of John 5:24,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from
death unto life”; and link with this verse John 10:27-30,
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all;
and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
I and my Father are one.”
Observe that in the rst of these passages
there are ve links, all of which go together:
“Heareth” — ”Believeth” — ”Hath” — ”Shall not ” — ”Is
passed.” Study these terms carefully and note their true
connection. ey should never be dissociated. In the longer
passage pay careful attention to what is said of Christ’s
sheep:
a — ey hear His voice;
b — ey follow Him;
c — ey possess eternal life;
d — ey shall never perish;
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43
e — None can pluck them from the hands of the Father
and the Son.
Could there be greater security than this and could
any words give clearer assurance of the complete salvation
of all who come to God through His Son? To doubt His
testimony is to make God a liar. To believe His record is to
have “much assurance.”
Do you say, “I will try to believe”? Try to believe whom?
Dare you speak in this way of the living God who will
never call back His words? If an earthly friend told you
a remarkable tale that seemed hard to credit, would you
say, “I will try to believe you”? To do so would be to insult
him to his face. And will you so treat the God of truth,
whose gifts and promises are never revoked? Rather look
up to Him, confessing all the unbelief of the past as sin,
trust Him now, and thus know that you are one of the re
deemed.
Some years ago in St. Louis, a worker was dealing with
rt man who had expressed his desire to be saved by going
into the inquiry room upon the invitation of the evangelist.
e worker endeavored to show the man that the way to be
saved was by accepting Christ as his Saviour and believing
the promise of God. But the man kept saying: “I can’t
believe; I can’t believe!”
“Who can’t you believe?” replied the worker. “Who can’t
I believe?” said the man.
“Yes, who can’t you believe? Can’t you believe God? He
cannot lie.”
“Why, yes,” said the man, “I can believe God; but I had
never thought of it in that way before. I thought you had
to have some sort of feeling.”
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e man had been trying to work up a sense of faith,
instead of relying upon the sure promise of God. For the
rst time he realized that he was to take God at His word,
and as he did so, he experienced the power and assurance
of salvation.
“Not saved are we by trying;
From self can come no aid;
‘Tis on the blood relying,
Once for our ransom paid.
‘Tis looking unto Jesus,
e Holy One and Just;
‘Tis His great work that saves us —
It is not ‘try’ but `trust’!
“No deeds of ours are needed
To make Christ’s merit more:
No frames of mind or feelings
Can add to His great store;
‘Tis simply to receive Him,
e Holy One and Just;
‘Tis only to believe Him —
It is not ‘try’ but ‘trust’!”
4. Full Assurance of Faith
45
153152
4. Full Assurance of Faith
IN the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews,
verses 19 to 22, are found the words which we will consider
together as the theme of this present chapter. Read the
entire passage very thoughtfully: “Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, his esh; and having
an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed
with pure water” (Heb. 10:19-22).
Do you notice that remarkable expression, “full
assurance of faith”? Does it not thrill your soul as you
read it? “Full assurance!” What could be more precious?
And it is for you if you want it, only you must receive it by
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faith. For observe carefully, it is not the full assurance of an
emotional experience, nor the full assurance of a carefully
reasoned-out system of philosophy. It is the full assurance
of faith.
e little boy was right who replied to his teacher’s
question, “What is faith?” by exclaiming, “Faith is believing
God and asking no questions.” at is exactly what it is.
Faith is taking God at His word. is is the real meaning
of that wonderful denition given by inspiration in Heb.
11:1 — ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.” God tells us something
beyond human ken. Faith gives sub-stance to that. It
makes unseen things even more real than things that the
eye beholds. It relies in unquestioning certainty upon
what God has declared to be true. And when there is this
complete reliance upon the promise of God, the Holy
Spirit bears witness to the truth, so that the believer has
the full assurance of faith.
Faith is not, however, mere intellectual acceptance of
certain facts. It involves trust and condence in those facts,
and this results in the word of faith and the work of faith.
Faith in Christ is not, therefore, simply accrediting the
historical statements revealed concerning our blessed Lord.
It is to trust one’s self wholly to Him in reliance upon His
redemptive work. To believe is to trust. To trust is to have
faith. To have faith in Christ is to have full assurance of
salvation.
Because this is so, faith must have something tangible
to lay hold of, some denite worth-while message to rest
upon. And it is just this that is set forth in the gospel,
which is God’s well-ordered plan of salvation for sinners
who otherwise are lost, helpless and hopeless.
4. Full Assurance of Faith
47
When, for instance, we are told four times in our Bibles
that “the just shall live by faith,” it is not simply that we
live in a spirit of optimism, a faith or hope that everything
will come out all right at last. And when we speak of the
doctrine of justication by faith, it is not to say that he
who maintains a courageous heart will thereby be declared
righteous. Faith is not the saviour. Faith is the hand that lays
hold of Him who does save. erefore the folly of talking
of weak faith as opposed to strong faith. e feeblest faith
in Christ is saving faith. e strongest faith in self, or ought
else but Christ, is but a delusion and a snare, and will leave
the soul at last unsaved and forever forlorn.
And so when we are bidden to draw near to God with
true hearts in full assurance of faith, the meaning is that we
are to rest implicitly on what God has revealed concerning
His Son and His glorious work for our redemption. is
is set forth admirably in the former part of this chapter in
Hebrews where our verse is found. ere we have set out
in vivid contrast the dierence between the many sacrices
oered under the legal dispensation and the one perfect,
all-sucient oblation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note some
of the outstanding dierences:
1. ey were many and often repeated. His is but one, and
no other will ever be required.
2. ey did not have the necessary value to settle the sin
question. His is of such innite value, it has settled
that problem forevermore.
3. ey could not purge the consciences of those who
brought them. His purges all who believe, giving a
perfect conscience because all sin has been put away
from under the eye of God.
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4. ey could not open the way into the Holiest. His has
rent the veil, and inaugurated the new and living way
into the very presence of God.
5. ey could not perfect the one who oered them. His
one sacrice has perfected forever those who are
sanctied.
6. In them there was a remembrance again of sins from
year to year. His has enabled God to say, “eir sins
and iniquities will I remember no more.”
7. It was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should put away sin. But Christ has accomplished
that very thing by the sacrice of Himself.
Here then is where faith rests, on the nished work
of Christ. It will help us greatly to understand this, if we
glance at what is revealed concerning the sin oering of
the old dispensation.
Consider the Troubled Israelite
Let us imagine that we stand near the altar in the temple
court, as a troubled Israelite comes with his sacrice. He
leads a goat along to the place of the oblation. e priest
examines it carefully, and nding it without any outward
blemish he commands it to be slain. e oerer himself
puts the knife to its throat, after laying his hand on its head.
en it is ayed and cut in pieces, and all its inward parts
carefully inspected. Pronounced perfect, it is accepted and
certain parts are placed upon the re of the altar. e blood
is sprinkled round about the altar and upon its four horns,
after which the priest pronounces absolution, assuring the
man of his forgiveness.
is was but “a shadow of good things to come,” and
could not actually put away sin. at unblemished animal
4. Full Assurance of Faith
49
typied the sinless Saviour who became the great Sin
Oering. His blood has made full and complete expiation
for iniquity. All who come to God through Him are
eternally forgiven.
If the Israelite sinned against the Lord, on the morrow
he required a new sacrice. His conscience was never made
perfect. But Christ’s one oering is of such innite value
that it settles the sin question eternally for all who put their
trust in Him. “By one oering he bath perfected forever
them that are sanctied.” To be sanctied in this sense is
to be set apart to God in all the value of the atoning work
and the personal perfections of Christ. He is Himself our
sanctication. God sees us henceforth in His Son.
Is not this a wonderfully precious truth? It is something
man would never have dreamed of. God alone devised such
a plan. He who believes His testimony regarding it has full
assurance of faith.
He does not know he is saved because he feels happy.
But every true believer will be happy to know he is saved.
Condence based upon an emotional experience would
leave one in utter bewilderment when that emotion passed
away. But assurance based upon the Word of God abides,
because that Word is unchangeable.
e Old Gentleman Had No Peace
Many years ago I was holding a series of evangelistic
meetings in a little country schoolhouse some miles out
of Santa Cruz, California. One day I was out driving with
a kindly old gentleman who was attending the services
nightly, but who was far from being sure of his personal
salvation. As we drove along a beautiful, winding road,
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50
literally embowered with great trees, I put the denite
question to him, “Have you peace with God?” He drew
rein at once, stopped the horse, and exclaimed, “Now that’s
what I brought you here for. I won’t go another foot until I
know I am saved, or else know it is hopeless to seek to be
sure of it.”
“How do you expect to nd out?” I inquired.
“Well, that is what puzzles me. I want a denite witness,
something that I cannot be mistaken about.”
“Just what would you consider denite, some inward
emotional stirring?”
“I can hardly say, only most folks tell us they felt some
powerful change when they got religion. I have been
seeking that for years, but it has always eluded me.”
“Getting religion is one thing; trusting Christ may be
quite another. But now suppose you were seeking salvation,
and suddenly there came to you a very happy feeling, would
you be sure then that you were saved?”
“Well, I think I would.”
“en, suppose you went through life resting on that
experience, and at last came down to the hour of death.
Imagine Satan telling you that you were lost and would
soon be beyond hope of mercy, what would you say to him?
Would you tell him that you knew all was well, because you
had such a happy emotional experience years before? What
if he should declare that it was he who gave you that happy
feeling, in order to deceive you, could you prove it was not?”
“No,” he answered thoughtfully, “I couldn’t. I see that a
happy feeling is not enough.”
“What would be enough?”
“If I could get some denite word in a vision, or a
message from an angel, then I could be sure.”
4. Full Assurance of Faith
51
“But suppose you had a vision of a glorious angel, and
he told you your sins were forgiven, would that really be
enough to rest on?”
“I think it would. One ought to be certain if an angel
said it was all right.”
“But if you were dying and Satan was there to disturb
you, and told you that you were lost after all, what could
you say?”
“Why, I’d tell him an angel told me I was saved.”
“But if he said, ‘I was that angel. I transformed myself
into an angel of light to deceive you. And now you are
where I wanted you — you will be lost forever: What then
could you say?”
He pondered a moment or two, and then replied, “I see,
you are right; the word of an angel won’t do.”
“But now,” I said, “God has given something better than
happy feelings, something more dependable than the voice
of an angel. He has given His Son to die for your sins,
and He has testied in His own unalterable Word that if
you trust in Him all your sins are gone. Listen to this: ‘To
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’
ese are the words of God spoken through His apostle
Peter, as recorded in Acts 10:43.
“en here in 1John 5:13, which says, ‘ese things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.’
Are these words addressed to you? Do you believe on the
Name of the Son of God?”
“I do, sir, I do indeed! I know He is the Son of God, and
I know He died for me.”
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52
“en see what He tells you, ‘Ye may know that ye have
eternal life.’ Is not this enough to rest upon? It is a letter
from heaven directed expressly to you. How can you refuse
to accept what God has told you? Can you not believe
Him? Is He not more to be depended on than an angel,
or than aroused emotions? Can you not take Him at His
word and rest upon it for the forgiveness of your sins?
“Now suppose that as you are dying Satan comes to you
and insists that you are lost, but you reply, ‘No, Satan, you
cannot terrify me now. I rest on the Word of the living God
and He tells me I have eternal life, and also the remission
of all my sins.’ Can you not do this now? Will you not bow
your head and tell God you will be saved on His terms
by coming to Him as a repentant sinner and trusting His
word concerning His blessed Son?”
e old man dropped his eyes, and I saw that he was
deeply stirred. His lips were moving in prayer. Suddenly
he looked up and touching the horse lightly with his whip,
exclaimed, “Giddap! It’s all clear now. is is what I’ve
wanted for years.”
at night at the meeting he came to the front and told
the audience that what he had sought in vain for half a
lifetime, he had found when he believed the message of
God’s word about what Jesus had done to save sinners. For
several years he was a regular correspondent of mine until
the Lord took him home — a joyous saint whose doubts
and fears had all been banished when he rested on the sure
Word of God. His was the full assurance of faith.
4. Full Assurance of Faith
53
Emotional Element in Conversion
And please do not misunderstand me. I do not discount
the emotional element in conversion, but I insist it will
not do to rely upon it as an evidence that one has been
forgiven. When a man is awakened by the Spirit of God
to realize something of his lost, undone condition, it
would be strange indeed if his emotions were not aroused.
When he is brought to repentance, that is, to a complete
change of attitude toward his sins, toward himself, and
toward God, we need not be surprised to see the tears of
penitence coursing down his cheeks. And when he rests
his soul on what God has said, and receives in faith the
Spirit’s witness, “eir sins and iniquities will I remember
no more,” it would be unthinkable but that, like Wesley, his
heart should be strangely warmed as he rejoiced in God’s
salvation.
But what I am trying to make plain is that assurance
is not based upon any emotional change, but whatever
emotional experience there may be, it will be the result of
accepting the testimony of the Lord given in the Scriptures.
Faith rests on the naked Word of God. at Word be
gives full assurance. en the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in
the believer’s heart and to conform him to Christ.
Growth in grace follows naturally when the soul has
trusted Christ and entered into peace with God.
“Soon as my all I ventured
On the atoning blood,
e Holy Spirit entered
And I was born of God.”
Full Assurance
54
5. Full Assurance of Understanding
55
153153
5. Full Assurance of
Understanding
WHEN writing to the Christians at Colosse, who had
been saved largely through the ministry of Epaphras, that
man of prayer and devotion, the apostle Paul said: “For I
would that ye knew what great conict I have for you, and
for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen
my face in the esh; that their hearts might be comforted,
being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full
assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the
mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col.
2:1-3). e expression I desire to draw particular attention
to is found in the second verse: “the full assurance of
understanding.”
Full Assurance
56
e initial question of salvation having been settled,
one is not to suppose that there will never arise any further
doubts or perplexities. e child of God is a stranger and
a pilgrim passing through an unfriendly wilderness-world,
where he is beset by many foes who will seek in every way
possible to impede his progress. He still has an enemy
within: the old eshy nature which is in constant warfare
with the spiritual nature imparted in new birth.
en outside, our adversary, the devil, goeth about as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We are called
upon to resist him, being steadfast in the faith. He knows
he can never destroy the life hid with Christ in God, but
he will do everything that satanic ingenuity can suggest to
hinder the believer’s progress in spirituality and retard his
growth in grace. By ery darts of doubt and incitements
to carnal pleasure, he will endeavor to hinder communion
with God and so to destroy the Christian’s happiness and
annul his testimony. erefore the need of being built up
on our most holy faith and nurtured in sound scriptural
instruction. “rough thy precepts,” says David, “I get
understanding.”
As soon as one knows he is saved, he should begin,
in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, a careful, regular,
systematic study of the Word of God. e Bible is our
Father’s letter to us, His redeemed children. We should
value it as that which reveals His mind and indicates the
way in which He would have us walk. “All scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is protable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works” (2Tim. 3:16, 17). e study of the
Word will instruct me in the truth, it will show me what
5. Full Assurance of Understanding
57
needs to be rectied in my life and walk, it will make clear
how I may get right with God, and it will guide me in
paths of uprightness. No Christian can aord to neglect
his Bible. If he does, he will be stunted and dwarfed in his
spiritual life, and will be a prey to doubts and fears, and
may be carried about by every wind of doctrine.
e Newborn Irishman
As newborn babes require milk, so the regenerated
soul needs to be nourished on the Word. I wonder if you
have heard the story of the Irishman who was converted
through reading the New Testament. Rejoicing in his new-
found treasure, he delighted to pore over its sacred pages
whenever opportunity permitted.
One day the parish priest called to see him and found
him perusing the precious volume that had brought such
blessing to his soul.
“Pat,” he asked sternly, “what book is that which you are
reading?”
“Sure, yer riverance,’ was the reply, “it’s the New
Testament.”
“e New Testament! Why, Pat, that’s not a book for an
ignorant man like you to read. at is for the clergy who
go to college and learn its real meaning and then give it to
the people. But unlearned folks like you will get all kinds
of wrong ideas from it.”
“But, yer riverance,” said Pat, “I’ve just been reading
here, and it’s the blessed apostle Peter himself that says
it, ‘As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby,’ and sure it’s just a babe in Christ
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I am, and it’s the milk of the Word I’m afther, and that’s
why I am reading it fer meself.”
“at’s all right, Pat, in a way, but the Almighty has
appointed His priests to be the milkmen, and when you
want the milk of the Word you should come to me and I
will give it to you as you are able to bear it.”
“Oh, sure, yer riverance, you know I kape a cow o’ my
own out there in the shed, and whin I was sick I hired a
man to milk her fer me, and I soon found he was shtealin’
half the milk an’ llin’ the bucket up with wather. But
whin I got well I discharged him and took to 50
Full Assurance milkin’ me own cow, and now it’s the rich
cream I’m get-tin’ all the time. And, yer riverance, whin I
depended on you fer the milk of the Word, man it was the
milk an’ water stu ye gave me, so now I’m milkin’ me own
cow in this case, too, and it’s the rich cream o’ the Word on
which my soul is feedin’ every day.”
Nothing will make up for lack of this diligent study of
the Bible for yourself. You cannot get the full assurance of
understanding without it. But as you search the Scriptures
you will nd truth after truth unfolding in a wonder, ful
way, so that doubts and questions will be banished and
divinely-given certainty will take their place.
Discouraged Christians
Many uninstructed believers become discouraged
because of their own failures and Satan takes advantage
of these to inject into their minds doubts as to whether
they are not deceiving themselves after all in supposing
they are Christians. But a knowledge of the truth as to the
believer’s two natures will often help here. It is important to
5. Full Assurance of Understanding
59
understand that sin in the esh, inherent in the old nature,
is no destroyed when one is born again. On the contrary,
that old sin-principal remains in the believer as long as he
in the body. What takes place at new birth is that a new
and divine nature is communicated. ese two natures are
in conict with each other.
But the Christian who walks in the Spirit will not fulll
the desires of the esh, even though at times those desires
may be manifested. In order to so walk, one must take sides
with God against this principle of evil which belongs to the
old Adamic nature. God reckons it as executed at the cross
of Christ; for the Lord Jesus died, not only for what we
have done but for what we are by nature. Now faith accepts
this as true, and the believer can exclaim, “I am crucied
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me: and the life that I now live in the esh (that is, in the
body) I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me,
and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
Carefully consider what is taught here: I, the responsible
I, the old man, all that I was as a man in the esh,
including my entire sinful nature, — ”I have been crucied
with Christ.” When was that? It was when Jesus died on
Calvary’s tree nineteen hundred years ago. He was there
for me. I was there in Him. He was my representative, my
substitute. He died the death I deserved to die. erefore
in God’s eyes His death was my death. So I have died with
Him.
Now I am called upon to make this real in my personal
experience. I am to reckon myself as dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God (Rom. 6:11). e old nature has no
claim upon me. If it asserts itself and endeavors to bring
me into bondage, I am to take sides with God against it.
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60
He has condemned sin in the esh. I must condemn it
too. Instead of yielding to it, I am to yield myself unto
God as one alive from the dead, for I have been crucied
in Christ’s crucixion, but I live anew in His resurrection.
I am quickened together with Christ, who Himself lives
in me. He then is my new Master. He is to take charge of
me and to control me for His glory. As yielded to Him, I
am freed from sin. “Sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). e
sweet, constraining power of grace leads me to present
my body a living sacrice, holy, acceptable unto God, my
intelligent service (Rom. 12:1).
Actually, I am still in the body, but I belong to the new
creation of which the risen Christ is the Head. It is only
the failure to recognize and act upon this that will keep me
from a life of victory.
Paul was eager for the Colossian and Laodicean
believers to realize their place and responsibility in this
new creation. He tells them that he literally agonized in
spirit that they might apprehend this truth, and so by heart
occupation with Christ nd complete deliverance from the
power of the world, the esh, and the devil. He shows them
that Christ Himself is the antidote for human philosophy,
legality, ritualism, and asceticism, to all of which man is
prone to turn when seeking deliverance from the power
of sin, but none of which are of any real use against the
indulgence of the esh.
It is occupation with a risen, gloried Saviour, our
exalted Head in heaven, that gives the victory we crave. As
risen with Him, we are exhorted to seek the things which
are above, where Christ sits on God’s right hand. “For ye
5. Full Assurance of Understanding
61
died, and your life (your real life as a new creature) is hid
with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3, R. V.).
Another Irishman Shouts “Glory”
I have told of one Irishman who found his joy in the
Word of God. Let me tell you of another who got the full
assurance of understanding when he learned the truth I
have been trying to unfold. He had been soundly converted.
He knew he was saved and for a time was lled with joy
thereby. But one day the awful thought came, “What if
I should sin in such a way as to lose all this, and be lost
myself after all?” He felt it would be unspeakably dreadful
to have once known the Lord and then to fall from that
high place of privilege, and so be overwhelmed in eternal
woe. He brooded on this day and night, and was in great
distress. But one evening in a meeting he heard the words
read from Col. 3:1-4, to which I have referred. I give them
in full here: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your aection on things above, not on
things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
As these precious verses fell on his ears and he followed
them with his eyes, something of their blessed certainty
gripped his soul, and forgetting he was in a public gathering,
he shouted aloud to the astonishment of those about him,
“Glory to God! Whoever heard of a man droundin’ wid his
head that high above water!”
You may smile at his apparent crudity of conception,
jut he had seen the truth that gives the full assurance of
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62
understanding. He realized his union with Christ, and saw
that since his Head was already in heaven he was eternally
secure. Oh, what a soul-delivering truth this is! How it
frees from self-occupation and how it glories Christ!
e practical outcome of it is seen in the verses that
follow (Col. 3:5-17), where we are exhorted to mortify
(that is, to put in the place of death, practically) our
members which are upon the earth, judging every unclean
and unholy propensity as having no place in the new
creation, and therefore not to be tolerated for a moment
as that which is ignoble and base. en we are told what
habits and behavior we are to put o, as discarded clothes
that unworthy of the new man; and we are directed what to
put on as properly characteristic of a man in Christ. Please
read the chapter for yourself.
e Lord Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.” How necessary then for His
redeemed ones to study His Word in dependence upon
His Holy Spirit, that they may be delivered both from the
fears that are the result of ignorance of His truth and the
pride that is a result of self-condence. e liberating Word
alone will give to the honest, yielded soul who searches it
prayerfully, in order that it shall have its sway over his life,
the full assurance of understanding, for it is written: “e
entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding
unto the simple.”
Go On! Go On! Go On!
And so as one goes on in the Christian life, and various
problems and perplexities arise, it will be found that the
Word of God will give the answer to them all, so far as it is
5. Full Assurance of Understanding
63
His will that we should understand them down here. ere
will always be mysteries beyond our comprehension, for
God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our
thoughts. But the trusting soul learns to be content with
what He has revealed, and so to quietly leave the rest to be
unfolded in that coming day when we shall behold Him as
He is, and in His light shall see light, and know even as we
ourselves are known of Him.
“When I shall wake in that fair morn of moms,
After whose dawning never night returns,
And with whose glory day eternal burns, I shall be satis-
ed.
“When I shall meet with those that I have loved,
Clasp in my arms the dear ones long removed,
And nd how faithful ou to me hast prov’d,
I shall be satised.”
Until then, the Word is to be a lamp unto our feet and
a light unto our path, whereby we walk safely and securely
through a world where sin and sorrow reign, and where
there are inscrutable mysteries on every hand, unsolvable
by human intelligence, knowing that all is well for those
who are known of God and are the called according to His
purpose of grace as revealed in Christ Jesus. Enough has
been set forth in His Word to give our hearts rest, and to
keep our souls in peace as we enjoy the “full assurance of
understanding.” e rest we can leave to Him who doeth
all things well, and who loves us with an everlasting love.
“I am not skilled to understand
What God hath will’d, what God hath plann’d;
I only know at His right hand
Is One who is my Saviour!
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64
“I take Him at His word indeed:
Christ died for sinners,’ this I read;
For in my heart I nd a need
Of Him to be my Saviour!”
6. Full Assurance of Hope
65
153154
6. Full Assurance of Hope
ONE of the literati of this world has told us that “hope
springs eternal in the human breast.” Regarding some
phases of life this may be true, but concerning the eternal
future the Word of God tells us that in our unregenerate
state we were in a hopeless condition. In Eph. 2:11, 12,
we read: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past
Gentiles in the esh, who are called Uncircumcision by
that which is called the Circumcision in the esh made by
hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in
the world.”
But when one trusts in Christ all this is changed. From
that moment on, the believer has a “good hope through
grace.” In Rom. 8:24, 25, we are told: “For we are saved by
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hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man
seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we
see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Note, this does not say we hope to be saved, but we are
saved by, or perhaps more properly, in hope. He who has
the full assurance of faith and of understanding, and knows
on the authority of the word of Him who cannot lie that
he is already justied and eternally saved now, has the hope
set before him of the redemption of his body at the return
of the Lord Jesus, when he will be conformed fully to the
image of God’s Son. is hope buoys him up as he faces
the manifold trials and vicissitudes of life, and gives him
courage to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
e opening section of the fth chapter of Romans may
be pertinently quoted here (verses 1-5): “erefore being
justied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience,
experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not
ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
We have already seen that our assurance is not based
upon an emotional experience, but on a “us saith the
Lord.” But we should by no means belittle experience.
e renewed man enjoys true Christian experience which
is produced by the knowledge of Christ as the One who
undertakes for him in all the varied trials of the way. ese
are designed by God to work together for the perfecting of
Christian character. It is therefore a great mistake to shrink
from trouble, or to pray to be kept free from tribulation.
6. Full Assurance of Hope
67
Praying for Patience
e story has often been told of the younger Christian
who sought the counsel and help of an older brother, a
minister of Christ. “Pray for me,” he entreated, “that I
may be given more patience.” Down on their knees they
dropped and the minister pleaded with God, “O Lord,
send this brother more tribulations and trials!”
“Hold,” exclaimed the other, “I did not ask you to pray
that I might have tribulations but patience.”
“I understood you,” was the reply, “but we are told in the
Word that ‘tribulation worketh patience.’”
It is a lesson most of us are slow to learn. But note the
steps as given in the passage above: tribulation, patience;
experience, hope; and so the soul is unashamed, basking in
the enjoyment of the divine love shed abroad in the heart
by the Holy Spirit who dwells within.
With this before, us, it ought to he easy to understand
what is meant when in Heb. 6:10-12 we read of “the full
assurance of hope.” “For God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward
his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do
minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the
same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises.”
As one walks with God, and learns to suer and endure
as seeing Him who is invisible, eternal things become
more real than the things of time and sense, which are
everything to the merely natural man. us there comes to
the heart a trustful calm, a full assurance, based not alone
upon the revealed Word but upon a personal knowledge of
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68
communion with God, which gives implicit condence as
to this present life and all that lies ahead.
One was once asked, “How do you know that Jesus
lives — that He has actually been raised from the dead?”
“Why,” was the answer, “I have just come from a half-
hour’s interview with Him. I know I cannot be mistaken.”
And this testimony might be multiplied by millions
who, through all the Christian centuries, have borne
witness to the reality of the personal companionship of
Christ Jesus by the Spirit, drawing out the heart in love
and devotion, and answering prayer in such a way as to
make it impossible to doubt His tender care.
e Young Man Convinced
e late Robert T. Grant told me that on one occasion,
while traveling, he was sitting in the Pullman reading
his Bible, and he noticed the people around; many with
nothing to do. He opened up his bag and got out some
gospel tracts, and after distributing them he sat down
again. A young man left his own seat and moved over to
the preacher, and asked, “What did you give this to me
for?”
“Why, it is a message from heaven for you, to give you
rest in your soul,” replied Mr. Grant.
e young man sneered and said, “I used to believe in
that stu years ago, but when I went to school and got
educated, I threw it all overboard. I found out there’s
nothing to it.”
“Will you let me read to you something I was going
over just a moment ago?” Mr. Grant asked. “’e Lotto is
my shepherd: I shall not want.’ Is there nothing in that,
6. Full Assurance of Hope
69
young man? I have known the blessedness of that for many
years. Is there nothing in it?”
e young man replied, “Go on, read what comes next.”
“’He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: ne
leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s
sake.’ Is there nothing in that?”
“Pardon me, sir, let me hear some more,” said the young
man.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and
thy sta they comfort me.’ Is there nothing in that?”
en the young man cried, “Oh, forgive me, sir, there is
everything in that! My mother died with those words upon
her lips and besought me to trust her Saviour, but I have
gotten far away from Him. You have brought it all back.
Tell me more.”
And as God’s servant opened up the truth as to the way
of salvation, the young man who had been so careless and
unbelieving was convicted of his sin, and led to trust in
Christ and confess Him as His own Saviour right there in
that Pullman car.
Yes, there is everything in the blessed mpanionship of
Christ, the Lord, both in life and in dean, and it is this that
gives the full assurance of hope.
But, unhappily, this assurance may become clouded and
in a measure lost by spiritual negligence and carelessness in
regard to prayer and feeding upon the Word. erefore the
need of such an exhortation as we have before us, which
urges us to “show the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope unto the end.”
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e Unhappy Backslider
Peter speaks of some who through waywardness have
gotten so far out of fellowship with God that they have
forgotten that they were purged from their old sins. is
is a sad state to be in. It is what is commonly called in the
Old Testament “backsliding.” And “the backslider in heart
shall be lled with his own devices” (Prov. 14:14). An old
preacher I knew as a boy used to say, “Backsliding always
begins in the knee.” And this is very true indeed. Neglect
of prayer will soon dull the keen edge of one’s, spiritual
sensibilities, and make it easy for a believer to drift into
worldliness and carnality, as a result of which his soul’s
eyesight will become dimmed and he will lose the heavenly
vision.
e backslider is short-sighted. He sees the things of
this poor world very vividly, but he cannot see afar o, as he
could in the days of his former, happy state. To such comes
the exhortation, “Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that
thou mayest see.” Get back to your Bible and back to your
knees. Let the Holy Spirit reveal to your penitent heart the
point of departure where you left your rst love, and judge
it denitely before God. Acknowledge the sins and failures
that have caused eternal things to lose their preciousness.
Cry with David, as you confess your wanderings, “Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation.” And He who is married to
the backslider will give you again to know the blessedness
of fellowship with Himself, and once more your peace will
ow as a river and the full assurance of hope be yours.
As you walk with God your faith will grow exceedingly,
your love unto all saints will be greatly enlarged, and the
hope laid up for you in heaven will ll the vision of your
6. Full Assurance of Hope
71
opened eyes, as your heart is occupied with the Lord
Himself who has restored your soul.
For it is well to remember that He Himself is our hope.
He has gone back to the Father’s house to prepare a place
for us and He has promised to come again to receive us
unto Himself, that where He is we may be also.
is is a purifying hope. In 1John 3:1-3 the Spirit of
God tells us so: “Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons
of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it
knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see
him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him
purieth himself, even as he is pure.” e third verse has
been translated, “Every man that bath this hope set on him,
purieth himself, etc.” As we are occupied, not with the
signs of the times, or simply with prophetic truth, but with
the coming One who is our Hope, we must di necessity
become increasingly like Him. We shall learn to hate the
things that He cannot approve, and so, cleansing ourselves
from all lthiness of the esh and spirit, we shall seek to
be perfected in holiness as we await His imminent return.
“So with this hope to cheer us,
And with the Spirit’s seal
at all our sins are pardoned
rough Him whose stripes did heal;
As strangers and as pilgrims,
No place on earth we own,
But wait and watch as servants
Until our Lord shall come.”
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is hope will be the mainspring of our loyalty to Him
whom we long to see. We are exhorted to be “like servants
who wait for their Lord” and are occupied for Him, that
whether He come at morn, at noon, or at night, we may be
ready always to meet Him, and so not be ashamed before
Him at His coming. “Blessed is that servant, whom his
lord when he cometh shall nd so doing” (Matt. 24:46).
No wonder this is called a “blessed hope,” as in Titus
2:11-14: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed
hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself
a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
e Great School of Grace
It is not merely that we are now saved by grace, but we
are also in the school of grace, here to learn how to behave
ourselves in such a manner as to have the constant approval
of Him who has made us His own. And so grace is here
presented as our instructor, teaching us the importance of
the denial of self, and the refusal of all that is contrary to
the mind of God, in order that we may manifest by clean
and holy lives the reality of the faith that we profess, while
we have ever before our souls that blessed hope of the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus
Christ.
At His rst coming He died to redeem, us from all
lawlessness, that He might purify us unto Himself a people
6. Full Assurance of Hope
73
of His own possession, zealously engaged in all good
works. At His second coming He will redeem our bodies
and make us wholly like Himself in all things. What a
wonderful hope this is, and as we live in the power of it
what assurance we have of the unchanging love of Him
whose face we soon shall see!
Often when the dead in Christ are being laid away,
we are reminded that we commit their precious bodies
to the grave “in the sure and certain hope of a glorious
resurrection.” And this is a most blessed truth. For when
the hope of the Lord’s return is realized, the saints of all
past ages who died in faith will share with those who may
be alive upon the earth at that time, in the wonderful
change that will then take place when “the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise rst: then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord” (1ess. 4:16,17). How bright a hope is this and
who knows how soon it may be realized! Let us not falter,
nor give way to doubt or unbelief, but give diligence in
maintaining “the full assurance of hope” until it gives place
to full realization.
Often we may feel that “hope deferred maketh the
heart sick,” but the consummation is sure. Meantime let us
be busy in our Master’s service, and particularly in trying
to win others, bringing them to share with us in the joy
of God’s salvation. When at last our little day of service
here is ended, not one of us will feel that we have given up
too much for Christ, or be sorry that we have labored too
earnestly for His glory; but, I fear, many of us would then
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give worlds, were they ours, if we could only go back to earth
and live our lives over again, in sincerity and unselshness,
seeking alone the honor of Him who has redeemed us.
It is better to be saved so as by re than not to be saved
at all, but surely none of us would desire to meet our Master
empty-handed, but the rather to “come with rejoicing”
into His presence, when our hope is fullled, bringing our
sheaves with us. Let us then remember that we have
“Only a little while to tell the wondrous story
Of Him who made our guilt and curse His own:
Only a little while till we behold His glory,
And sit with Him upon His throne.”
And so may we ever heed His command, “Occupy till
I come.”
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75
153155
7. Assurance Unto All Men
IN the last analysis, the real basic ground for this
assurance, not only of the individual salvation of each
believer but of the eventual carrying out of the divine
program in its entirety, rests solely upon the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. is is emphasized by the apostle
Paul in his great sermon addressed to the Athenian
philosophers on Mars Hill, as recorded in Acts 17. ere,
after pointing out the unreasonableness and wicked folly of
idolatry, he declared the truth as to the Unknown God, the
Creator of heaven and earth, and added: “And the times
of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed
a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given
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assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the
dead” (Acts 17:30,31).
He had himself received ocular proof of that resurrection
of which he spoke. e risen Christ had appeared to him, as
he fell to the ground on the Damascus turnpike, overcome
by a supernatural light from heaven. And at this very time
there were living many witnesses of the greatest miracle
of all the ages, for when writing to the Corinthian church,
some years later than his visit to Athens, he enumerated
considerably over ve hundred who could bear positive
testimony to the resurrection of our Lord, “of whom,” he
added, “the greater part remain unto this present, but some
are fallen asleep” (1Cor. 15:5, 6).
Horace Bushnell declared that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is the best attested fact of ancient history. ink of
the authoritative sources for any other outstanding event,
and compare them with the proofs of the resurrection, and
you will realize the fairness of this remark.
e writers of the four Gospels were men of the sincerest
piety and probity, as their works attest. ey unite in giving
unqualied testimony to the resurrection of Christ. e
other New Testament writers, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude
denitely mention or clearly imply the same glorious fact.
ey all speak of Christ Jesus as the living One, who once
died for our sins. Concerning what other ancient historical
event can the testimony of so many eyewitnesses be cited?
Even the enemies of the gospel bore unwilling witness
to the resurrection by their clumsy eorts to interpret to
their advantage the empty sepulcher on that rst Easter
Sunday. ey knew Jesus had predicted that He would rise
again in three days, and so they went to Pilate demanding
that steps be taken to prevent His disciples from stealing
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77
the body of their Master. Pilate gave them a guard and
commanded the sealing of the tomb, and grimly added,
“Make it as sure as ye can!” But all their eorts were in vain.
When the appointed hour struck, angelic hands broke the
Roman imperial seal and rolled back the stone, revealing
an empty crypt-the body was not there. Certainly none of
His foes ried that grave. ey were determined to keep
the body of Jesus there as long as time should last. And
if they could have produced that body later, in order to
disprove the message of the resurrection, certainly they
would have done so.
And it is preposterous to credit the story circulated by
the wily priesthood that His disciples came by night, and
stole away His body, for even they “knew not the scripture,
that he must rise from the dead.” e amazing thing is that
His enemies remembered what His friends had forgotten.
e empty tomb was as great a shock to those who loved
Jesus, as it was a fearful portent to those who hated Him.
Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Real
Only the personal appearances of the risen Christ
convinced them of the reality of His resurrection. e
forty days during which He appeared to them on many
occasions, instructing them concerning the kingdom of
God, furnished ample proof that He had really triumphed
over death, and this glorious fact gave them that condence
which enabled them to stand against all opposition,
witnessing to every man that God had raised His body
from the grave. ey beheld Him as He was taken up from
them into heaven in that same body, and after receiving the
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Pentecostal enduement, they went about bearing witness
to the resurrection of their Lord with great power.
is is the outstanding message of the Church. He
who died for our sins lives again for our justication. e
resurrection of the material body of esh and bones is the
proof that God is satised with the redemptive work of
His Son. It declares that God can now be just and the
justier of him who believes on the Lord Jesus. To say that
though Christ is dead as to the body He is alive as to the
spirit will not do. at might be true of any man. It would
be no evidence of divine satisfaction in His work.
Some years ago an eloquent New York preacher, who
denies the physical resurrection of the Saviour, declared,
“e body of Jesus still sleeps in an unknown Syrian tomb,
but His soul goes marching on!” Many applauded this as
a wonderful explanation of the inuence of Jesus down
through the ages. But it is utterly false and fallacious. If the
body of Jesus still rests in the grave, He was not what He
professed to be and is powerless to save.
is heresy (for heresy it is) is not new. It became
prevalent in certain circles even in apostolic days, as 1Cor.
15 proves. In the Corinthian church there were some who
accepted the teaching of the Sadducees and denied the
reality of a literal resurrection. Sternly, Paul challenges
them in the well-known words: “Now if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of
God; because we have testied of God that he raised up
Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise
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not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins. en they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are
of all men most miserable” (1Cor. 15:12-19).
Here is sturdy logic indeed, and withal inspired by the
Holy Spirit. If Christ be not risen we have no gospel to
preach, and there is no message of deliverance for poor, lost
sinners held captive in chains of iniquity. Faith in a dead
Christ will not save anyone. e gospel is the dynamic of
God unto salvation because it proclaims a living, loving
Redeemer who is waiting to manifest His power on behalf
of all who trust in Him.
What the Resurrection of Christ Attests
Let us, then notice carefully what the Word of God tells
us about this glorious truth.
First: e resurrection of the Lord Jesus attests the
truthfulness of His claims concerning His divine person
and mission. To His enemies He said, “Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up.” But He spake of the
temple of His body. To His disciples He declared, “No man
taketh it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and to take it again. is
commandment have I received of my Father.” He denitely
told them that the Son of man must be betrayed into the
hands of sinners, and. He added, “ey shall scourge him,
and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again”
(Luke 18:33).
erefore if He failed to come out of the tomb in a
resurrected, physical body of esh and bones, all that He
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claimed regarding Himself and His saving power was
invalidated. But He did not fail! It was not possible that
He should be holden of death. He fullled His Word by
rising again on the third day.
Second: His resurrection attests the truth of the
prophetic scriptures. e Old Testament abounds in
prophecies of Messiah’s death and resurrection. In Psa. 16,
David foretold concerning Him, “ou wilt not leave my
soul in hell (Sheol, or Hades, the abode of the dead); neither
wilt thou suer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Both
Peter and Paul show us that this passage had its fulllment
in the resurrection of Christ.
Isaiah wrote seven hundred years before His birth,
“When thou shalt make his soul an oering for sin, he
shall see seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:10). Here is a
remarkable statement. Death was not to end the activities
of Jehovah’s Servant. After He had given His life as an
oblation for sin, He was to prolong His days, and so in
resurrection be the Administrator of God’s great plan for
the blessing of mankind.
ird: e resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the
display of omnipotent power on our behalf. In Eph. 1:17-
23 we have the apostle’s prayer for all believers. He asks
that the eyes of their hearts might be opened, in order that
they might know the hope of His calling; the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints; and the “exceeding
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according
to the working of his mighty power, which ha wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead.” e same
mighty energy that was put forth to revivify the body of
Jesus, and raise Him from among the dead, is the power
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81
that quickens dead souls into newness of life and energizes
children of God so as to enable them to live even here on
earth a heavenly life of victory over sin, while they walk in
fellowship with Him under the control of His Holy Spirit.
Fourth: e resurrection of Christ is the proof that the
sin question has been settled to God’s satisfaction. On the
cross our sins were laid upon Him. He voluntarily accepted
responsibility for them. He bore them in His own body
on the tree. “He was delivered for our oenses, and was
raised again for (or, on account of) our justication” (Rom.
4:25). When God raised His Son from death it was His
way of expressing His recognition of the perfection of His
nished work. If sin had not been forever put away, He
would never have come forth from that grave; but having
paid for us the uttermost farthing, death had no claim
upon Him. By raising Him God declared to all created
intelligences His full approval of and His acceptance of the
work of His blessed Son.
Fifth: Christ’s resurrection is therefore the believing
sinner’s assurance that his record is now clear. God Himself
has no charge against him who puts his trust in Jesus. So
we read in Rom. 8:32-34: “He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God’s elect? It is God that justieth. Who is he
that, condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us.” Observe that no voice can
now be raised to condemn the one who rests in Christ’s
nished work. His death and resurrection eectually
forbid the raising of the sin question again, as far as any
believer is concerned. e resurrection is like a receipt for
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full payment made. On the cross the mighty debt we owed
was settled. A. risen Christ tells us that every claim has
been met and God holds nothing against the believer.
“Now we see in Christ’s acceptance
But the measure of our own,
He who lay beneath our sentence
Seated high upon the throne.”
Sixth: His resurrection is the token that through Him
God will judge the world. at judgment is based on man’s
attitude toward the One whom the Father delights to
honor. If men receive Him as Lord and Saviour they will
never have to come into judgment for their sins, because
He was judged in their room and stead. But if men refuse
Him and spurn His grace, they will not only have to answer
before Him for all their sins, but in addition to all the rest,
they will be judged for rejecting Him who died to save
them.
Lastly: It is His resurrection which alone gives validity
to the gospel message and delivers the believer from the
fear of death. Turning now to 2Tim. 1:8-10, we read this
important admonition: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be
thou partaker of the aictions of the gospel according to
the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with
an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to
light through the gospel.”
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83
Do not, I beg of you, read these words carelessly. Go over
them again and again, until their force and their solemnity
and their preciousness have gripped your soul. Our entire
salvation hangs on the truth that our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
has abolished (that is, annulled the power of) death, and
has brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel. He went down into the dark stream of death. All
its waves and billows rolled over Him. But He came up
in resurrection life never to die again. And so for us the
waters of this Jordan have been rolled back, and there is a
dry way through death for all who believe. Listen to His
triumphant words, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believeth thou this?” (John 11:25, 26.) Does not your heart
reply, “Yes, Lord, I do believe; I rest my soul forevermore
upon y sure testimony, and I confess ee as my Saviour
and my Lord”?
God’s Assurance at Christ Arose
It is thus that God gives assurance unto all men in
that He hath raised Christ from the dead. If Satan should
try to discourage you by occupying you with your own
unworthiness and your manifest shortcomings, do not
attempt to argue with him, but look up to the throne of
God and there contemplate the risen One who once hung
a bleeding Victim on the cross of shame, and whose lifeless
body once lay in Joseph’s new tomb. Remember, He could
not be yonder in the glory if one sin remained unsettled.
erefore, every believer can sing with assurance:
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“e Lord is risen, with Him we also rose,
And in His death see vanquished all our foes.
e Lord is risen, we stand beyond the doom
Of all our sins, through Jesus’ empty tomb.”
e young convert was right, who said, when this truth
was revealed to him by the Spirit: “If any one is ever to
be kept out of heaven for my sins, it will have to be Jesus,
for He took them all upon Himself and made Himself
responsible for them. But He is in heaven already, never to
be turned out, so now I know that I am secure as long as He
lives, the One who once died in my place.” is expresses
it exactly, for faith is just saying “Amen” to what God has
made known in His Word. e believer sets to his seal that
God is true, and so rests everything for eternity on the fact
that Christ, who died for our sins on the cross of shame,
has been raised to endless life.
It is noticeable that the entire Trinity of the Godhead
are concerned in this marvelous event, and each divine
Person participated in our Lord’s rising from among the
dead.
As we have already seen, His resurrection is attributed
to Himself: “I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”
Again He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up.”
It is also attributed to the Father: “e God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep.”
e Holy Spirit is likewise recognized as the direct
Agent in bringing to pass this stupendous miracle: “But if
the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
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85
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in
you.”
And so each Person of the Godhead is concerned in
proclaiming the testimony of Jesus and His resurrection
to men and women everywhere-those who are dead in
trespasses and sins, until quickened by the same mighty
power that raised up our blessed Lord and set Him at
God’s right hand in the highest heaven.
“Whoso hath felt the Spirit of the Highest,
Cannot confound or doubt Him or deny:
Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest,
Stand then on that side, for on this am I.”
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8. Assurance of Heart
87
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8. Assurance of Heart
THERE is a very precious line of truth unfolded in
John’s First Epistle that has to do with the experimental
side of Christianity. In chapter three, verses 18 and 19, we
are both exhorted and encouraged in the following words:
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in
tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that
we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
Now this assurance of heart is the result of the Spirit’s
work in the believer, following the full assurance of faith.
e moment I take God at His Word and trust the Lord
Jesus as my Saviour, I have eternal life, and I know it on
the authority of the Holy Scriptures, which over and over
link the present possession of this life with faith in the One
whom God gave to be the propitiation for our sins. And as
I go on in the Christian life I have abundant corroborative
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evidence through the Holy Spirit’s continuous work in my
inmost being that this is indeed far more than a doctrine
which I have accepted. I nd from day to day positive
proofs that I am in very truth a new man, “created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them.” us my assurance deepens.
While at the beginning I rested everything for eternity
upon the naked Word of God, I nd, as I continue in faith,
overwhelming conrmation of the truth of that Word in
the manifestations of eternal life actually imparted to me a
sinner, through grace.
Let us look carefully at some of these corroborative
proofs which assure our hearts before Him.
First: e believer becomes conscious of an inborn love
for the will of God. “Hereby we do know that we know
him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know
him and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we
that we are in him” (1John 2:3-5). It is not natural for the
unbeliever to delight in the will of God. e unsaved man
loves his own way and resents being asked to yield his will
to another.
An English Barrister Counsels a Young
Man
Mr. Montague Goodman, a well-known English
barrister, who is also a widely-recognized minister of Christ,
recently related the following incident which will illustrate
this point: “Sitting in my study with me one evening was
a young man whom I had known from his early boyhood.
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89
He was about to set out for the Far East and had come to
say good-bye. We talked in a candid, friendly manner, and
I sought to commend Christ to him. I shall not readily
forget his reply. It was given without any trace of hostility
or bitterness. He said, ‘I want to do as I like. I don’t see why
I should surrender my liberty to Jesus Christ, or anybody
else.’
“In so saying he was but expressing the mind of the
whole race of which he was a member. For the universal
truth concerning mankind is just this: ‘We have turned
everyone to his own way.’ is is man’s condemnation
before God; he is not prepared to subject himself to the
will of God. He is set on having his own way, and resents
any interference with it. He says in eect to God, ‘Not y
will, but mine be done.’ He wills his own will, and this is
universally true whether that will may be vulgar or rened,
sensual or intellectual, honest or dishonest, cruel or kind.
He claims the right to be the master of his fate, the
captain of his soul.”
is is quoted because I can think of no better illustration
of what I desire to make clear, nor of any stronger words by
which to emphasize it.
But now consider what takes place at conversion. I trust
in Christ as my Saviour and I own Him as my Lord. His
all-embracing love wins my heart. I yield my will to His.
Henceforth, however conscious I may be of daily failure, I
nd the supreme desire of my heart is to do as He would
have me. I love His commandments. How truly Bonar’s
beautiful old hymn sets this forth:
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“I was a wand’ring sheep,
I did not love the fold,
I did not love my Shepherd’s voice,
I would not be controlled;
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home,
I did not love my Father’s voice,
I loved afar to roam.
“e Shepherd sought His sheep,
e Father sought His child;
He followed me o’er vale and hill,
O’er deserts waste and wild:
He found me nigh to death,
Famished, and faint, and lone;
He bound me with the bands of love,
He saved the wand’ring one.
“Jesus my Shepherd is;
‘Twas He that loved my soul,
‘Twas He that washed me in His blood,
‘Twas He that made me whole:
‘Twas He that sought the lost,
at found the wand’ring sheep;
‘Twas He that brought me to the fold,
‘Tis He that still doth keep.
“I was a wand’ring sheep,
I would not be controlled,
But now I love my Shepherd’s voice,
I love, I love the fold:
I was a wayward child,
I once preferred to roam;
But now I love my Father’s voice,
I love, I love His home!”
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91
A Changed Attitude Gives Assurance
is change of attitude gives me heart assurance that I
am now a child of God by a second birth. Nothing else can
properly explain the subduing of my once proud will, and
my earnest desire to obey the commandments of God as
set forth in His Word.
I hope none will be so foolish as to suppose that John’s
use of the word “commandments” has reference simply
to the Ten Words given at Sinai. It goes far beyond that.
e righteousness of the law is fullled in us, who walk
not after the esh, but after the Spirit. But over and above
this we have the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ,
embracing all that He taught while He was here on earth
as to the behavior of His disciples; and also that which
He has since revealed by His Spirit, as set forth in the
New Testament Scriptures. e regenerated man longs
to do those things that please his Lord; and as he walks
in obedience, that divine love which was shown in all its
perfection at the cross wells up in his own heart, as Christ
becomes increasingly precious the better He is known.
In the second instance, let us consider what is written
in 1 John 3:9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not
commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God.” is has puzzled many a
careless reader, and even some who are more careful. Satan
himself has used it to distress God’s dear children, when
God meant it to comfort sensitive, conscientious souls. e
devil says to such an one, “You know you are not sinless.
You frequently fail in thought and word and deed, therefore
you commit sin, and so you cannot be a child of God.” e
troubled mind is inclined to accept this as clear and logical,
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even when the heart that has trusted Christ rebels against
it, and feels instinctively that there is something wrong and
fallacious in such reasoning.
It will help us to see that the tense of the verb here is
what has been called the “present continuous.” It is not a
question of occasional, or even of frequent failure, bitterly
lamented and grieved over. It rather implies a course of
behavior that is characteristic. With this in mind it will
be well to go back to verse 6 and read the entire section as
given in a critical translation: “Whosoever abideth in Him
does not practice sin; whosoever practiceth sin hath not
seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man
deceive you; he that practiceth righteousness is righteous,
even as He is righteous. He that practiceth sin is of the
devil; for the devil practiceth sin from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy (or annul) the works of the devil. Whosoever is
born of God doth not practice sin, for His seed remaineth
(or abideth) in him and he cannot be practicing sin, because
he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest
and the children of the devil: whosoever cloth not practice
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother.”
How Two Dierent Families Act
See how the two families, the unregenerated and the
regenerated, are here depicted. Unsaved men practice sin.
Whatever ne things there may be in their characters, as
judged by the world’s standards, they delight in having their
own way. is is the essence of sin. “Sin is lawlessness.” All
careful scholars agree that this is a more correct translation
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93
than “Sin is the transgression of the law.” We are told. that
“until the law sin was in the world,” and although sin was
not imputed as transgression because no written standard
had yet been given, nevertheless sin manifested itself as
self-will, or lawlessness, and was seen every where among
fallen mankind. Lawlessness is the refusal of a person to
submit his will to Another, even to God Himself, who has
the right to claim his full obedience. In this the children
of the devil show plainly the family to which they belong.
But with the believer it is otherwise. Turning to
Christ he is born from above, as we have seen, and thus
possesses a new nature. is new nature abominates sin,
and henceforth dominates his desires and his thinking.
Sin becomes detestable. He loathes himself for the follies
and iniquities of his past, and he yearns after holiness.
Energized by the Holy Spirit, his life-trend is changed.
He practices righteousness. ough ofttimes conscious of
failure, the whole trend of his life is altered. e will of
God is his joy and delight. And as he learns more and more
the preciousness of abiding in Christ, he grows in grace
and in knowledge, and realizes that divine power is given
him to walk in the path of obedience. His new nature nds
joy in surrendering to Jesus as Lord, and so sin ceases to be
characteristic of his life and character.
is leads us on to the third corroborative evidence of
the new birth. “We know that we have passed from death
unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death” (1John 3:14).
ere is a dierence between the love here spoken of
and a merely human aection. Two dierent words are
used to distinguish these two aspects of love in the Greek
New Testament. e word here chosen by the Spirit is used
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throughout to designate a love that is divinely imparted. It
far surpasses mere natural aection. It is implanted in us
when we are born again.
What a marvelous thing is this love shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us! It links us to all
saints everywhere. Instinctively the newly-converted soul
feels that he belongs to a new family and he claims all such
as are saved as his brethren and sisters in Christ. Before
the great change came, he shrank from the company of
Christians and preferred to associate with worldlings. Now
he seeks out fellow-believers, like those of old, concerning
whom we read, “and being let go, they went to their own
company.”
Line of Demarkation Becomes Evident
Nor is this a passing notion, for as the years go on the line
of demarkation only becomes stronger. e world becomes
less and less attractive, and the family of the redeemed
becomes more and more precious. Love of the brethren is
an abiding proof of the new life, and so the heart is assured
before God. is love is a very practical thing. e true
child of God cannot be content with loving in word or in
tongue. He will manifest love in active benevolence and in
gracious behavior. roughout this First Epistle of John
this truth is everywhere stressed. “Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God” (4:7).
It is a remarkable fact, however, that after emphasizing
these internal evidences of the new birth so clearly in
the early part of his letter, the apostle comes back in the
closing portions to the great outstanding truth that the
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surest proof of all is simple faith in the testimony of God.
It is because the more conscientious a soul is, the more he
will distrust himself and his experiences, and hence it will
not do to build upon these experiences apart from the great
foundation truths of the gospel.
So in 1John 4:13-16 we are told: “Hereby know we that
we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of
his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father
sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in
him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Reading this, one might ask, “But how do I know that
He has given the Spirit to me?” e answer is that it is
the Spirit who bears witness to the eternal verities of the
gospel. He indwells all who have trusted Christ as their
personal Saviour. If you have done this and confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, you may know that God by the
Spirit dwells in you, and you in God. His love has been
revealed in the gospel. Nature manifests His power and
wisdom. It is the Cross that tells out His love and grace.
Dr. Horatius Bonar, one of whose well-known hymns we
have quoted above, has brought this out most strikingly in
another poem, not so widely known.
“We read ee in the owers, the trees,
e freshness of the fragrant breeze,
e songs of birds upon the wing,
e joy of summer and of spring.
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We read ee best in Him who came
To bear for us the Cross of shame
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die,”
When our Saviour had made purication for sins He
was taken up into heaven and seated on God’s right hand.
e Holy Spirit then came down to earth to give power to
the testimony of the work so blessedly accomplished, when
the Roman spear pierced the side of the dead Christ, and
“forthwith came there out blood and water.” at blood
and water bore mute witness to His holy life given up for
sinners. To this the Spirit adds His divine record. And so,
as we arc informed in 1John 5:8, “ere are three who bear
witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the
three agree in one” (R. V.).
us God has given abundant testimony to the perfection
of the redemptive work of His Son. And now He calls on
man to receive that testimony in faith and thus be eternally
saved. We credit the testimony of men in whom we have
condence, even though they speak of matters beyond our
knowledge or our ability to verify. Surely, then, we should
accept unquestioningly the witness that God has given
concerning His Soul To do otherwise, to refuse to trust
His record, is to make Him a liar. To believe the record is to
restive this divinely-given message into the very heart and
soul. erefore John tells us, “He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself.” And so John brings us
back to that which we dwelt on in an earlier chapter of this
book: “ese things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye
have eternal life, even you who believe on the name of the
Son of God” (1John 5:13, lit, trans.).
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It becomes evident, then, that the term “these things”
embraces all that the venerable apostle has been setting
before us in this Epistle of Light and Love. Go over it again.
Take it up point by point. Follow the Spirit’s presentation
of “the message” from verse to verse and theme to theme.
Receive it as it is in truth the very Word of the living God,
and know beyond any cavil or doubt that you are born from
above and have everlasting life as a present possession. And
so your heart shall be assured before Him.
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.”
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<Section>
PART TWO
1. Diculties Which Hinder Full Assurance
99
153157
1. Diculties Which Hinder
Full Assurance
IT IS now my purpose to consider some of the diculties
and perplexities which keep souls from entering into peace
and enjoying the full assurance of salvation. ese questions
and objections are some that have come to me again and
again from earnest seekers after light, and are therefore,
I have good reason to believe, fairly representative of the
troublesome thoughts that hinder many from seeing the
simplicity of God’s way of life, as set forth in His holy
Word. Perhaps if my reader has not a settled rest of heart
and conscience, he may nd his own peculiar trouble dealt
with here.
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1. “How may 1 be sure that I have repented
enough?”
Very often the real diculty arises from a
misapprehension of the meaning of repentance. ere is
no salvation without repentance, but it is important to
see exactly what is meant by this term. It should not be
confounded with penitence, which is sorrow for sin; nor
with penance, which is an eort to make some satisfaction
for sin; nor yet with reformation, which is turning from
sin. Repentance is a change of attitude toward sin, toward
self, and toward God. e original word (in the Greek
Testament) literally means “a change of mind.” is is not
a mere intellectual change of viewpoint, however, but a
complete reversal of attitude.
Now test yourself in this way. You once lived in sin
and loved it. Do you now desire deliverance from it? You
were once self-condent and trusting in your own fancied
goodness. Do you now judge yourself as a sinner before
God? You once sought to hide from God and rebelled
against His authority. Do you now look up to Him, desiring
to know Him, and to yield yourself to Him? If you can
honestly say “Yes” to these questions, you have repented.
Your attitude is altogether dierent to what it once was.
You confess you are a sinner, unable to cleanse your
own soul, and you are willing to be saved in God’s way.
is is repentance. And remember, it is not the amount of
repentance that counts: it is the fact that you turn from self
to God that puts you in the place where His grace avails
through Jesus Christ.
Strictly speaking, not one of us has ever repented enough.
None of us has realized the enormity of our guilt as God
1. Diculties Which Hinder Full Assurance
101
sees it. But when we judge ourselves and trust the Saviour
whom He has provided, we are saved through His merits.
As recipients of His loving kindness, repentance will be
deepened and will continue day by day, as we learn more
and more of His innite worth and our own unworthiness.
“It is not thy tears of repentance, nor prayers,
But the blood that atones for the soul;
On Him then who shed it thou mayest at once
y weight of iniquities roll.”
2. “I do not feel t for God; I am so unworthy, I
fear He will not take me in.”
What a wretched condition would be yours if you
imagined you were t, in yourself, for heaven, or that you
were worthy of such love as God has shown! It is because
of your lack of tness that Christ died to redeem you. It is
because you are worthy only of eternal judgment that He
“who knew no sin” was made sin for you, that you might
become the righteousness of God in Him. If you had any
tness of your own, you would not need a Saviour.
When the Roman centurion sought the healing power
of Jesus for his servant, he sent the Jewish elders to the
Lord to intercede for him. ey said, “He is worthy that
thou shouldest do this for him; for he loveth our nation,
and himself built us a synagogue.” But when the centurion
faced the Lord, he exclaimed, “I am not ‘worthy that thou
shouldest come under my roof.”
ey said, “He is worthy”; he declared, “I am not worthy,”
and this moved the heart of Jesus, so that He exclaimed, “I
have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
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So long as a man considers himself worthy there is no
salvation for him; but when, in repentance, he owns his
unworthiness, there is immediate deliverance for him
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without repentance
the sinner is unable to believe unto salvation.
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of tness fondly dream;
All the tness He requireth,
Is to feel your need of Him.”
3. “I am afraid I am too great a sinner ever
to be saved.”
But Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. He did not die for good people, and in truth
there are no intrinsically good people in the world. “ere
is none that doeth good, no, not one.” But if any imagine
they are good in themselves, there is no salvation for them.
“ey that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick.” Sin is like a dire disease that fastens upon the
whole being, but Jesus is the great Physician who cures
the worst of cases. None can be too vile, or too sinful, or
too wicked for Him. His skill is unlimited. He delights to
show great grace to great sinners. Saul of Tarsus was the
chief of sinners, but he was saved in that moment when he
trusted the Lord Jesus.
e greater your sinfulness, the more you need the
Saviour; and the worse your condition, the more proof you
have that you are the one for whom He died. God laid
all our sins upon His Son when He hung on that cross of
Calvary. He suered for them all. Not one of your sins was
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overlooked. ere is such innite value in His propitiatory
work that grace can now be extended to the vilest sinner on
the face of the earth, if he will but receive the Lord Jesus by
faith as his personal Saviour.
“My sin — oh, the bliss of this glorious thought —
My sin — not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul”
4. “But what if I am not one of the elect?”
You can readily settle that yourself. Without attempting
to delve into the mysteries of the divine decrees and the
divine foreknowledge, it is enough to say that all who come
to God through His Son are elect. Our Lord makes this
very plain in John 6:37. He says, “All, that the Father giveth
me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out.” Now do not linger too long on the rst
half of the verse. Be clear about the latter half, for it is there
that your responsibility is found. Have you come to Jesus?
If so, you have His pledged word that He will not cast you
out. e fact that you come proves that the Father gave you
to Christ. us you may be certain that you belong to the
glorious company of the elect.
D. L. Moody used to put it very simply: “e elect are the
`whosoever wills’; the non-elect are the `whosoever won’ts:”
is is exactly what Scripture teaches. e invitation is to
all. ose who accept it are the elect. Remember, we are
never told that Christ died for the elect. But what does the
Word say? “Christ died for the ungodly.” Are you ungodly?
en He died for you. Put in your claim and enter into
peace.
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Meditate on the Holy Spirit’s declaration through
the apostle Paul: “is is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Nowhere are we told
that Christ came to save the elect. e term “sinners” is
all embracing, for “all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God.” Are you sure you are a sinner? en you
may be certain there is salvation for you. Do not exercise
yourself in matters too high for you. Just be simple enough
to take God at His word.
“Sinners Jesus will receive:
Sound the word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it o’er and o’er again:
Christ receiveth sinful men.”
5. “Sometimes I am afraid that I am
predestinated to be damned; if so, I can do
nothing to alter my terrible case.”
No one was ever predestinated to be damned.
Predestination is a precious truth of inestimable value and
comfort, when rightly understood. Will you not turn to
your Bible and read for yourself in the only two chapters in
which this word “predestinate” or “predestinated” is found?
e rst is Rom. 8:29, 30 — ”For whom. He did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the rstborn among many
brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
1. Diculties Which Hinder Full Assurance
105
also called: and whom he called, them he also justied: and
whom he justied, them he also gloried.”
e other chapter is Eph. 1. In verse 5 we read:
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will.” And in verse 11, it says: “Being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will.”
You will note that there is no reference in these four verses
to either heaven or hell, but to Christlikeness eventually.
Nowhere are we told in Scripture that God predestinated
one man to be saved and another to be lost. Men are to
be saved or lost eternally because of their attitude toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on the Son bath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him” (John 3:36).
Predestination means that some day all the redeemed shall
become just like the Lord Jesus! Is not this precious? Do
not try to make a bugaboo out of that which was intended
to give joy and comfort to those who trust in the Saviour.
Trust Him for yourself, and you will know that God has
predestinated you to be fully conformed to the image of
His Son.
“And is it so, I shall be like y Son,
Is this the grace which He for me has won?
Father of glory, thought beyond all thought,
In glory to His own blest likeness brought.”
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6. “I am trying to believe, but I have no
assurance of salvation.”
Trying to believe whom? Would you dare speak of
trying to believe that One who cannot lie? Is not this to
insult God to His face? Suppose a dear friend of yours
related a strange story which he declared to be a fact, would
you say to him, “I will try to believe you.” Would not this
be tantamount to declaring that you did not believe him
at all? Do not then, I beg of you, talk of trying to believe
when God has given His own testimony concerning His
Son, and promised to give eternal life to all who trust Him.
You either do believe Him, or you do not. If you do not
believe Him you practically make Him a liar. If you have
been doing this heretofore, will you not go to Him at once
and confess this great wickedness of which you have been
guilty, and tell Him you will henceforth rest in simple faith
upon His word? It is not a question of feeling or emotion,
but of “believing God and asking no questions,” as that
little boy put it, when asked “What is faith?”
“I do believe, I now believe,
at Jesus died for me,
at on the cross He shed His blood
From sin to set me free.”
7. “But must I not feel dierent?”
It is a remarkable fact that the word “feel” is only found
once in the New Testament, and that is in Paul’s sermon to
the Athenians, where he rebukes them for imagining the
Godhead to be like unto silver and gold, and shows that
the true God is the Creator of all things, “and hath made of
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107
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth, and bath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek
the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and nd him,
though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we
live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your
own poets have said, For we are also his ospring” (Acts
17:26-28). Now you nd the word “feel” right in the very
midst of this passage, but it has nothing to do with the
gospel, but rather with the heathen groping in the dark,
“if haply they might feel after God.” You are not in their
ignorant condition. You have heard the gospel. You know
of the one living and true God. You are not told to feel
anything, but to believe His record.
en it may interest you to know that the word “feeling”
is only found twice in the New Testament, and never has
anything to do with the message of salvation. In Eph. 4:19
the Spirit of God describes the state of certain unbelieving
Gentiles in these words: “Who being past feeling have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness
with greediness.” is is what continual indulgence in sin
does for people. ey become insensate — ”past feeling,”
and so conscience ceases to register, as they plunge into
one excess and enormity after another.
e only other place where we read of “feeling” is in a
very dierent connection. In Heb. 4:15, our blessed Lord
Himself is brought before us in a very precious verse: “For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our inrmities; but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin.”
Nowhere else do we read of feeling in all the New
Testament! But oh, how many times we read of believing,
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of faith, of trust, of condence! Yes, these are the words for
us. Ignore your feelings altogether, and tell the Lord Jesus
now that you will trust Him and confess Him before men.
“Jesus, I will trust ee,
Trust ee with my soul;
Weary, worn and helpless,
ou cant make me whole.
ere is none in heaven,
Nor on earth like ee;
ou hast died for sinners,
erefore, Lord, for me.”
8. “I can see that God has done His part in the
work of my salvation, but must I not do my
part if I would avail myself of what He has
done?”
Have you ever heard the story of the colored man
who was wonderfully saved and arose in a class-meeting
to testify to his new-found joy? His heart was lled with
Christ and his lips spoke of Him and of Him only, as his
Redeemer and Lord. e class-leader was a legalist and
said when the other had nished, “Our brother has told us
what the Lord did for Him, but he has forgotten to tell us
what he did in order to be saved. God does His part when
we do ours. Brother, did you not do your part before God
saved you?” e colored man was on his feet in a moment
and exclaimed, “I shore did do my part. I took to running’
away from God as fast as my sins could carry me. at was
my part. And God took after me till He run me down. at
was His part.”
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Yes, you and I have all done our part, and a dreadfully
sad part it was. We did all the sinning and He must do
all the saving. After we are saved we can labor night and
day to show our gratitude to Him for what His grace has
wrought.
“I am not told to labor
To put away my sin;
So foolish, weak and helpless,
I never could begin.
But, blessed truth, I know it,
ough ruined by the fall,
Christ for my sin has suered,
Yes, Christ has done it all.”
9. “It is not exactly that I do not trust God, but
I cannot be sure of myself; I am afraid even my
faith is unreal.”
Faith is not the Saviour: Christ is. He is the unchanging
One — ”Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and
forever.” Faith is just the hand that lays hold of Him. You
are not asked to trust yourself. e less condence you have
in yourself the better. Put all your condence in the Lord
Jesus. He is not unreal, and if your faith is centered in Him
all will be well for time and eternity.
“Jesus, I rest in ee,
In ee myself I hide;
Laden with sin and misery,
Where can I rest beside?
‘Tis on y meek and lowly breast
My burdened soul cloth nd its rest.”
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10. “But the Bible says faith is the gift of God
and that all men have not faith; perhaps it is
not the will of God to give me saving faith.”
Faith is the gift of God in this sense, that only through
His Word is it received. “Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.” All men may have faith if
they will; but alas, many refuse to hear the Word of God, so
they are left in their unbelief. e Holy Spirit presents the
Word, but one may resist His gracious inuence. On the
other hand, one may listen to the Word and believe it. at
is faith. It is God’s gift, it is true, because given through
His Word.
“Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.
“But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
Takes all our guilt away;
A sacrice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.
“My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of in;
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.
“Believing, I rejoice
To see the curse remove,
And bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing redeeming love.”
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— ISAAC WATTS.
11. “What troubles me is that I am not sure I
have accepted Christ.”
To accept Christ is to receive Him by faith as your Lord
and Saviour. But, strictly speaking, the great thing to see is
that God has accepted Christ. He took our sins upon Him,
died to make propitiation for them. But God has raised
him from the dead and taken Him up to glory.
He has accepted Him in token of His perfect satisfaction
in His work. Believing this, the soul enters into peace. I
simply rest in God’s thoughts about His Son.
“Peace with God is Christ in glory,
God is light and God is love;
Jesus died to tell the story,
Foes to bring to God above.”
12. Sometimes I believe I have trusted Jesus and
am justied before God, but I cannot forget my
sins; they come before me night and day. Surely,
if I were really forgiven I could forget the past.”
Ah, dear troubled one, the closer you get to Christ,
and the more deeply you repent of your sins, the more you
will abhor yourself forever committing them. But let your
com fort be in this blessed thought — God has forgotten
them! He says, “eir sins and iniquities will I remember
no more.” So when they come before your mind to trouble
and distress you, just rest in the fact that God has forgotten
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them, and will never bring them up again. Christ has settled
for all of those sins. Believe it and be at peace,
“Settled forever, sin’s tremendous claim,
Glory to Jesus, blessed be His name;
No part-way measures doth His grace provide,
Finished the work, when Christ the Saviour died.”
13. “I often come to the point of deciding for
Christ, then I draw back because I am afraid I
cannot, hold out.”
If it were a matter of your own ability to hold out, you
might well fear. You have no power in yourself that will
enable you to hold out. But the moment you fully trust the
Lord Jesus you are born again. en the Holy Spirit comes
in to dwell in your heart and to be the power of the new
life. He will enable you to resist temptation and to live to
the glory of God. “It is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.” Do not count on self at
all. Let Him have His way. He will lead you on in triumph
as you surrender to Him.
“Safe in the Lord, without a doubt,
By virtue of the blood:
For nothing can destroy the life
at’s hid with Christ in God!”
14. “But must I not hold on to the end if I
would be saved at last?”
May I, without irreverence, venture to recast a Bible
story? If the account of Noah and the ood went something
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113
like this, what would you think of it? Suppose that after the
ark was completed God said unto Noah, “Now, get eight
great spikes of iron and drive them into the side of the ark.”
And Noah procured the spikes and did as he was bidden.
en the word came unto him, “Come thou and all thy
house and hang on to these spikes.” And Noah and his
wife, and the three sons and their wives, each laid hold of
a spike. And the rains descended and the ood came, and
as the ark was borne up on the waters their muscles were
strained to the utmost as they clung to the spikes. Imagine
God saying to them, “If you hang on till the deluge is over
you will be saved!” Can you even think of such a thing as
any one of them going safely through?
But oh, how dierent the simple Bible story. “And the
Loin) said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into
the ark.” Ah, that is a very dierent thing to holding on!
Inside the ark they were safe as long as the ark endured
the storm. And every believer is in Christ and is as safe as
God can make him. Look away then from all self-eort
and trust Him alone. Rest in the Ark and rejoice in God’s
great salvation.
And be sure to remember that it is Christ who holds
you, not you who hold Him. He has said, “I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.” “For if, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom.
5:10). He who died for you, now lives at God’s right hand
to keep you, and the Father sees you in Him. “He hath
made us accepted in the beloved.” Could anything be more
sure?
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“e work which His goodness began,
e arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.”
15. “Must I not strive, if I would enter in at the
strait gate? It seems to me just believing is too
easy a way.”
Our Lord’s words may well give us pause. ey were
never intended, however, to make us feel that a hard
struggle was necessary in order to be saved. But He would
have us understand that no one will ever be saved who is
not in earnest. e great majority of people driftlessly and
carelessly on, passing heedlessly by the gate to life, intent
only on gratifying their carnal and worldly desires. He
who would be saved must arouse himself to the supreme
importance of spiritual things. He must put rst things
rst. In this sense he strives to enter in at the strait gate.
He will be like Bunyan’s Pilgrim who, when awakened
to his danger and realizing the dreadful burden of sin,
refused to heed the pleadings of his old companions, and
putting his ngers in his ears, cried, “Life, life, eternal life!”
as he ed from the City of Destruction. You, too, must
determine that nothing shall be allowed to interfere with
the settlement of the great matter of the salvation of your
soul.
But you do not have to strive with God to save you. He
is waiting to do that very thing. Yea, and He will do it for
you the moment you cease from all self-eort and put your
trust in Christ. To strive to enter in is to be determined
that nothing shall keep you from accepting the gracious
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invitation of the Lord Jesus, who bids you come to Him
in all your need and guilt, that He may t you for heaven’s
glory by cleansing you from every stain. Do not on any
account be turned away from this, but brushing every
barrier aside, yield your heart to the Saviour now.
“He tells me words whereby I’m saved,
He points to something done,
Accomplished on Mount Calvary
By His beloved Son;
In which no works of mine have place,
Else grace with works were no more grace.”
16. “Do I not have to wait God’s time? I
can do nothing about it until He is ready
to save me.”
But God’s time is now. He plainly tells us, “Behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
You need not wait another moment. He will never be any
more ready to save you than He is at the very instant you
are reading these words, and you will never be more t to
come to Him than at this very moment. Every day you wait
you are adding to the terrible list of your sins. Every hour
you continue to reject Him you are increasing your guilt
by refusing to receive His blessed Son. Every moment you
stay away from Him you are sinning against His love. Why
not close up the present evil record by prostrating yourself
before Him now, and owning your need, accept the gift of
God, which is eternal life?
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“I was waiting once for pardon,
I was hoping to be saved;
Waiting, though my heart would harden,
Hoping danger might be braved.
Till by God’s own truth confounded.
I, a sinner, stood confessed;
Richly then His grace abounded,
Jesus gave me perfect rest.”
17. “I really want to come to Jesus, but 1 do
not seem to know how to do so.”
It is strange how we stumble over the very simplicity
of the gospel invitation. Christ Jesus is a living, loving,
divinely-human personality — as truly as when He was
here on earth. It is He Himself who bids us come. Do you
know what it is to stay away? en surely you need have
no diculty in doing the very opposite! Lift your heart to
Him in prayer. Tell Him that you are the sinner for whom
He died, and that now you accept His gracious invitation
to “Come, for all things are now ready.” en believe that
He receives you, for He said He would and He always
keeps His word.
You may have heard the story of Charlotte Elliot, the
hymn-writer. As a young woman she was troubled and
anxious about her soul, but very reticent when it came to
seeking help from others. But a French pastor, who was
visiting her father, put the question directly to her, “Have
you come to Jesus?” She replied, “I want to come, but I
do not know how.” He simply answered, “Come just as
you are.” She ed to her room in tears and later emerged a
saved soul. She wrote the well-known lines quoted below
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as the expression of her own coming. Will you not make
them yours?
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that y blood was shed for me,
And that ou bidd’st me come to ee,
O Lamb of God! I come, I come!
“Just as I am, y love unknown
Hath broken ev’ry barrier down;
Now to be ine, yea, ine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”
18. “Must I not pray through until I get the
witness that I am saved?”
Nowhere in the Bible are people told they must pray
to be saved. It is true that the natural expression of an
awakened and anxious soul is prayer. But there is no such
thing in Scripture as “praying through” in order to be saved.
What is required is that the convicted sinner believe the
gospel. Suppose you went home tired and hungry, and said
to your wife, “Will you please let me have supper as early as
possible?” She complies at once and sets the table, calling
you to come and partake of what she has provided. Instead
of doing so, you plead long and earnestly, literally begging
for food. What would she think of you?
And what does God think when He has spread the
gospel feast for starving sinners and invited all to “come
and dine,” but instead of obeying His voice, men fall on
their knees and beg and plead for His mercy and grace, and
do not accept His invitation and feast on the Living Bread
provided for their salvation.
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e witness of the Spirit is only enjoyed by those who
thus take ‘Him at His Word. e believer has received the
witness to him as given in the Word of God (Heb. 10:15).
He has the witness in himself because the truth has been
received into his heart (1John 5:10). He enjoys the Spirit’s
witnessing with his spirit, when, upon believing, the Holy
Spirit comes to dwell within (Rom. 8:16). e witness is
not a happy feeling. It is the testimony that the Spirit gives
through the Word. at this testimony believed b rings
joy and gladness goes without question. I do nor l mow I
am saved because I feel happy. But I feel happy because I
know I am saved. An old evangelist I knew as a boy used
often to say, “Believing is the root; feeling is the fruit.” is
expresses it well.
“O the peace my Saviour gives,
Peace I never knew before;
And the way has brighter grown,
Since I’ve learned to trust Him more.”
19. “Sometimes I fear that I have sinned away
my day of grace, for though I have been seeking
the Lord for a long time, I do not seem to nd
Him.”
No one has sinned away his day of grace who has any
desire to be saved. at desire is divinely implanted. If you
are seeking after God it is because He is seeking after you.
But, what, after all, do you really mean when you talk of
seeking the Lord and being unable to nd Him? He is not
hiding Himself. He has come in love to sinners as the good
Shepherd seeking the lost sheep.
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A little boy was asked one day, “My lad, have you found
Jesus?” He looked up in amazement and replied, “Why, sir,
I didn’t know He was lost, but I was, and He found me.” A
wonderful confession surely!
In Old Testament times God said through the prophet,
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon
him while he is near”; and there is a sense in which these
words are still applicable. But they do not convey the full
truth of the gospel. Jesus said, “e Son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Are
you lost? en He is looking for you. “Stand still, and see
the salvation of the Lord.” Stop right where you are and lift
your heart to Him as a repentant sinner, and you will nd
He is waiting and ready to receive you.
And as to sinning away your day of grace, has He not
said, “Whosoever will may come.” Are you not included in
that great word “whosoever”? Unless you can prove that
it does not take you in, you are still where the grace of
God can reach you. Do not listen to the lying voice of the
enemy of your soul, who tells you that your case is hopeless,
but heed the gentle invitation of Him who is the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, as He bids you now believe on His
name.
“And if I now would seek Him,
In love He sought for me,
When far from Him I wandered
In sin and misery;
He opened my ears and bade me
To listen to His call;
He sought me and He found me —
Yes, Christ has done it all.”
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20. “But how can I be sure that my faith is
strong enough to save my soul?”
It is not faith that saves the soul. It is the One whom
God has set forth as the object of faith. It is true we
are justied by faith instrumentally, but actually we are
justied by His blood. e weakest faith in Jesus saves. e
strongest faith in self, or in good works, or in the church, or
in its ordinances leaves you lost and undone still.
James Parker of Plaineld, N. J., was visiting in a
hospital, when a nurse indicated a bed surrounded with
white screens, and whispered, “e poor man is dying. e
priest has been here and administered the last sacrament.
He cannot live long.” Mr. Parker begged to go inside the
screen, and permission was granted. As he looked down
upon the dying man he observed a crucix on his bosom.
He stooped over and lifted it up. e sick man lifted his
eyes and looked distressed. “Put it back,” he whispered, “I
want to die with it on my breast.” e visitor pointed to
the gure pictured on the cross, and said fervently, “He’s a
wonderful Saviour!”
“Yes, yes, I love the crucix. Put it back, please. I hope it
will help me to die well.”
“Not the crucix,” was the reply, “but the One who died
on the cross, the Lord Jesus, He died to save you.”
e man looked bewildered, then his face brightened:
“Oh, I see, not the crucix but the One who died. He died
for me. I see, sir, I see. I never understood it before.”
It was evident that faith had sprung up in his soul. Mr.
Parker replaced the crucix, oered a brief prayer, and left.
In a few minutes he observed the body being wheeled out
of the ward.
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Telling me of it later, he exclaimed, “I knew that God
thinks so much of the work of His Son that He will have
every one in heaven who will give Him any excuse for
taking them there!” It is blessedly true. Faith’s look at the
Crucied saves, even though it be faith of the feeblest kind.
“ere is life in a look at the Crucied One,
ere is life at this moment for thee;
en look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was ne led to the tree.”
21. “But must I not keep the law in order to be
saved?”
Keep the law! Why you have already violated those
sacred precepts times without number. Go carefully over
the Ten Commandments; which of them have you no
broken, either literally or in spirit? Take them one 133 one,
and face them squarely and honestly in the presence of the
God who gave them, and who said, “e man that doeth
them shall live in them”; but who also declared “Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them.” Let us consider
them seriously:
(1) ou shalt have no other gods before me.
He is downright exclusive! He must be the one object of
worship! But have you given Him this place in your
life? Have not many other gods shared your love and
veneration? We are commanded to love the Lord
our God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Have you ever risen to this? If not, plead guilty on
count one, and pass on to the next.
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(2) ou shalt not make unto thee any graven image … ou
shalt not bow down thyself tc them, nor serve them.
Of gross idolatry, involving the actual adoration of images
you may never have been guilty; but we read in
Scripture of some who set up idols in their hearts.
And these are as obnoxious to God as idols of wood,
or stone, or metal. What are some of their names?.
Self, Wealth, Fame, Pleasure, and many more. e
devotees of these false gods are as truly idolaters as
the heathen who bow down to carved and molten
symbols. Are you guilty of such false worship? If so,
bow in humiliation before the one true and living
God, and cry again, “Guilty.”
(3) ou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God
in vain.
How widespread is the wicked practice of profanity!
“Swear not at all” is the command of Holy Scripture.
Yet how few there are who have not sinned along this
line. Remember, it is not always necessary to use vile,
wicked language to profane the name of the Lord.
When that name is used carelessly, lightly, without
due respect and reverence, this commandment is
broken just as truly as when coupled with oaths and
cursing. And many a one swears in thought whose
lips have never been sullied by cursing. Can you
honestly face this third commandment and cry, “Not
guilty”?
(4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
God claims one seventh of man’s time. He gives six days
for useful labor and lawful pleasure. He demands
that one day be set aside for Himself. “e sabbath
was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” But
what base ingratitude have we manifested here! e
disregard for God’s holy day is but an evidence of
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the rebellion of the human heart against all divine
authority. What can you say for yourself as to this?
Are you guilty or not guilty? Answer as at the bar of
eternal justice, I beg you!
(5) Honor thy father and thy mother.
One of the outstanding sins of the last days is “disobedience
to parents.” Self-will is everywhere apparent.
Where is the child that has always been dutiful and
obedient? Lack of lial regard is scarcely considered a
sin anymore. But He who on earth was subject to His
mother and His foster-father is our example. How far
short we have come of the perfection seen in Him!
Be absolutely honest with yourself and with God. If
you have ever been a disobedient, willful child, do
not attempt to justify your wrong-doing, but take the
penitent sinner’s place and own your guilt.
(6) ou shalt not kill.
Your hand may never have been stained with human
blood. But what of that passage in the First Epistle of
John, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”
Judged by this high and holy standard, who is beyond
condemnation here?
(7) ou shalt not commit adultery.
Many there are who have kept themselves physically pure
from this gross sin, but how few have always been
pure in thought; and the Lord Jesus told us that an
unchaste look is adultery in the sight of God. is
raises a standard that few, if any, have been able to
wholly live up to. If uncleanness in act or in thought
has ever soiled your soul, do not try to excuse it, as do
the psychologists of our degenerate times, but bow
with the woman of the seventh chapter of Luke and
that other woman of the eighth chapter of John at
the feet of Jesus, own your guilt, and hear Him say,
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“y sins are forgiven. Neither do I condemn thee:
go, and sin no more.”
(8) ou shalt not steal.
We are apt to think of stealing as involving large sums
of money, or the purloining of valuable goods. But
he is as really a thief who steals a trie, as he who
burglarizes a house or embezzles a million. Who
is entirely guiltless of appropriating what was not
rightfully his?
(9) ou shalt not bear false witness.
Have your lips never been stained with a lie? “e
wicked,” we are told, “go astray as soon as they are
born, speaking lies.” It has often been noted that all
children need to be taught to speak the truth. None
ever need lessons in lying, for “out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh.” And “the heart is
deceitful above all things.” erefore, deceitful lips
and practices. Whoever dares to say, “I am not guilty”
on this count is but adding another lie to the many
yet to be answered for.
(10) ou shalt not covet.
is was the prohibition that convicted self-righteous Saul
of Tarsus of his sinfulness. He who could claim that as
to outward observances he was guiltless of violations,
found himself a slave to desires for what God had
withheld from him, and so “the commandment which
was ordained to life,” he found “to be unto death.” For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought
in him all manner of concupiscence (covetousness,
lust, evil desire) and thus he realized he was a helpless
slave, unable to break the chains that hound him. Do
you nd yourself in the same state? en let the voice
of the law have its way. Own its authority and admit
you are under condemnation.
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Even One Oense Means Guilt
Now possibly you nd, by careful examination, that
you are not guilty on every count of these Ten Words. But
remember what the Holy Spirit has told us in James 2:8-
11: “If ye fulll the royal law according to the scripture,
ou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye
have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced
of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet oend in one point, he is guilty of all.
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not
kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou
art become a transgressor of the law.”
It has often been remarked that a chain is no stronger
than its weakest link. Suppose you were suspended over a
precipice by a chain of ten links. How many would need to
snap before you would drop into the abyss below? And so, if
you are guilty of the violation of one of the commandments,
you are condemned by the law and therefore under its curse.
e law of God was never given to save men. It was
given to magnify sin, to make it exceedingly sinful, to give
it the specic character of transgression. “erefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no man be justied in his
sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).
But, blessed be God, “Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). He
became man, and was born under the law. He obeyed that
law perfectly, and was not subject to its penalty. But He
went to the cross and endured its curse for us, that we who
trust Him might be forever free from its just condemnation.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
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believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”
(John 3:18). “ere is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
“Free from the law, oh, happy condition,
Jesus bath bled, and there is remission;
Curs’d by the law and bruised by the fall,
Christ bath redeemed us once for all.”
22. “But must I not rst make restitution for
all the wrongs I have done to other people before
I can come to Christ and be forgiven?”
It is well that you should be exercised as to wrongs done
to others, but nowhere in the Word are we told we must
make restitution rst, though after we are saved we should
certainly seek to do all in our power to straighten up any
crooked things involving the rights of other people. It is to
those already saved that the apostle writes, “Let him that
stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with
his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give
to him that needeth” (Eph. 4:28).
Consider the repentant thief on the cross. Surely he
had been guilty of wronging many of his fellows! Yet the
moment he turned in faith to Jesus he was saved. In the
very nature of the case he could not make restitution to
any one for any crime committed. His hands and feet were
nailed to the cross. It was not possible for him to do one
thing to repair the many wrongs he had done. But through
the merits of the Holy Suerer on that central cross, he
was fully and freely pardoned and tted for Paradise. Had
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he been permitted to live, and to come down from that
scaold, undoubtedly he would have spent his; life seeking
to show the reality of his repentance, and wherever possible
to make restitution for oenses committed. But he was
saved altogether apart from this; and that on the ground of
the propitiatory work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You may be saved in the very same way. en as a new
man in Christ, you can prove your love to Him by striving
to live unselshly and devotedly to His glory. And if you
are able to put wrongs right, as between man and man, you
will in so-doing not only nd joy yourself, but you will be a
witness to others of the power of saving grace. But all such
eorts to clean up the past will have nothing whatever to
do with the salvation of your soul. You cannot even help
God to save you. It is Christ’s work alone that counts.
“Cast your deadly doing down,
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.”
23. “I have a humble hope that I am a
Christian, but I dare not be too sure. I
cannot see how any one can be certain
until after the Day of Judgment.”
But the Day of Judgment will be too late! If this
matter is not settled before that great assize, you will
then be irrevocably lost. Perhaps you are laboring under a
misapprehension of what that judgment of the Great White
rone is for, and who are to be judged at that time. It will
be the judgment of sinners, when all who have lived and
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died out of Christ will be judged according to their works.
Christians will not stand there for judgment. Concerning
them our Lord has said (John 5:24): “Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that send me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
I like the Roman Catholic translation of this verse,
which is conrmed by our Revised Version. It changes
“shall not come into condemnation” into “cometh not
into judgment.” Here is a glorious truth revealed! e
believer in the Lord Jesus will never have to be judged for
his sins because Christ has been judged for them already.
On account of this God justies freely and completely all
who receive His Son in faith as their Saviour. Look again
at the verse quoted above. Notice that all who hear His
Word and believe in Him have everlasting life. It is present
possession. erefore it is really unbelief that would lead
one to say, “I hope I have eternal life because I believe in
Jesus.” Do not speak of humility when you are doubting
God. Take Him at His word and know beyond all question
that eternal life is yours.
“ough all unworthy, yet I will not doubt,
For him that cometh He will not cast out;
He that believeth, oh, the good news shout,
Hath everlasting life.”
24. “Must I not rst be baptized before I can
know that I am saved?”
It is right and proper that you should be baptized. But
baptism cannot eect the salvation of the soul. It is, as Peter
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tells us, a gure of salvation, just as was the deliverance of
Noah in the ark of old. But we are told distinctly, “By grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). To the inquiring jailer at
Philippi, who asked the denite question, “What must I do
to be saved?” there came as denite an answer, “Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (See Acts
16.) Baptism followed believing. It was the God-ordained
way of confessing Christ as Saviour and Lord. Many have
been saved who could not possibly be baptized. Consider
again the case of the penitent thief, and be assured that
God has never had two ways of saving sinners. e same
grace that saved him will save you, when you trust in Jesus,
whose blood alone cleanses from all sin.
ere are a number of passages relating to baptism that
may seem a little confusing. But rest your soul on the clear,
denite statements concerning salvation by grace, and as
you study your Bible the perplexing portions will become
clearer under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. It is Christ’s
baptism of judgment that is the basis of our deliverance
from death.
“Lord Jesus, we remember
e travail of y soul;
When in y love’s deep pity
e waves did o’er ee roll.
Baptized in death’s dark waters,
For us y blood was shed;
For us ou Lord of glory
Wast numbered with the dead.”
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25. “If I could only be sure 1 was in the right
church, I would feel secure; but there are so
many dierent churches that I get all confused
and upset.”
e Church is not the Ark of Safety. e Church is the
aggregate of all who believe in the Lord Jesus and who
have therefore been baptized by the Holy Spirit into one
Body. is is not a mere organization, however ancient
and venerable. If you were sure you were in the right
church (some earthly organization), and trusted in that for
salvation, you would be forever lost! Your trust must be in
the Head of the Church, the risen Christ. He is the only
Saviour. All ecclesiastical pretention is vain and to rest in
any kind of church membership is an empty deception.
Christ alone is the Ark that will carry you safely through
all the storms of judgment. No matter what denomination
you turn to, you will never nd salvation in allying yourself
with it, but when you come to Jesus, you are then prepared
to enjoy fellowship with His people.
“I love y kingdom, Lord,
e house of ine abode,
e Church our blest Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.”
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26. “I believe that Jesus died for me, but I am
afraid to say I am saved, for 1 know I do not
love God as much as I should.”
I question if any one loves Him as He ought to be loved
But it is a grave mistake to be looking in your own heart
for love. Rather rejoice in the amazing love of God for you
as expressed in the Cross of Christ, and in all His care for
you through the years. We say sometimes that “love begets
love.” is is very true in regard to love for God. As you
are occupied with His love, your own heart will respond
to it and you will be able to say, “We love him, because he
rst loved us.” Looking into your own heart for a ground
of condence is like casting the anchor in the hold of a
ship. Cast it outside and let it go down, down, down into
the great, tossing ocean of strife and trouble, until it grips
the Rock itself. Christ alone is the Rock, and He is the
manifestation of the innite love of God for sinners.
e following lines are of uncertain authorship, but
they are most blessedly true:
“Could we with ink the ocean ll,
Were every blade of grass a quill,
Were the world of parchment made
And every man a scribe by trades
To write the love
Of God above
Would drain that ocean dry;
Nor would the scroll
Contain the whole,
ough stretched from sky to sky!”
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27. “At times I feel assured that all is well, but
at other times I tremble, fearing that I am
mistaken.”
Mistaken about what? If you believe that Jesus died for
you and rose again, there can be no mistake about that. If
you have taken Him at His word, and have come to Him
for peace and pardon, there can be no mistake about that.
If you have opened your heart to Him, you can be certain
He has come in to abide, for He has told you He would,
and there can be no mistake about that. Your trembling
does not alter these basic facts.
A story is told of a vessel that was wrecked one stormy
night by crashing on the rocks o the coast of Cornwall.
All hands perished but one lone Irish lad, who was hurled
by the waves upon the jagged slopes of a great towering
ledge, where he managed to nd a place of refuge. In the
morning, watchers on the beach spied him through their
glasses, and a boat was launched and rowed out to where he
dung. Almost dead with cold and exposure, he was tenderly
lifted into the boat and brought ashore. After restoratives
were applied, he was asked, “Lad, didn’t ye tremble out
there on the rock in all that storm?” He replied brightly
in his Irish way, “Trimble? Sure and I trimbled. But do
you know, the rock never trimbled wanct all night.” If you
have trusted Christ you are on the Rock. While you may
tremble, that does not invalidate God’s salvation. e Rock
remains rm and secure. Look away from self altogether
and rely solely upon the Word of God.
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“When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In ev’ry high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
28. ere have been times when 1 had very
denite assurance of my salvation, and then
I have lost it again. Why do these periods of
darkness come?
ere may be various reasons for these periods of
darkness. e greatest saints have at times known the same
experiences. ey may possibly be accounted for by great
mental weariness and physical weakness. e adversary
of our souls is always ready to take advantage of such
conditions, and ever seeks to make us forget the clear,
denite promises of God on which we have rested when
well and strong.
ere is an authentic story told of an aged minister, who
had preached the gospel in clearness and power during all
his public life, but who, when he was suering at times,
found himself greatly beset by doubt and uncertainty.
Mentioning the matter to his wife, she drew his attention
to John 5:24. As he read the precious words again, “Verily,
verily, say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hash everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto
life,” he burst into a joyous laugh, and said, “How strange
that I should ever forget words like these, when I have
preached on them myself for years.”
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Sometime later the wife came into the room and
found her aged husband leaning over the side of the bed,
holding the open Bible beneath his couch. She exclaimed,
“Whatever are you doing?” He answered, “Satan has been
after me again and as he is the prince of darkness, I took it
that he would be in the darkest place in the room, which
is under the bed, and so I was just showing him John 5:24,
and the moment he saw it he ceased to trouble me.”
We can quite understand the mental weakness that the
story suggests, but the principle is blessedly true. When
the adversary of your soul comes against you seeking to
destroy your condence, show him what God has said.
But there may be other reasons which account for
the loss of that blessed assurance you once enjoyed. e
apostle Peter suggests such in his Second Epistle, chapter
1, verse 9. In the previous verses he has been stressing
the importance of spiritual growth, and the believer is
instructed to be diligent in adding to his faith virtue, and
to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and
to self-control patience, and to patience godliness, and to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness
love; and then he can be sure that if these things are in
him and abound, he will not be idle nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But, on the other hand, if the believer is neglectful of
these things, he cannot expect the divine blessing to rest
upon him; and so we are told, “He that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see afar o, and hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins.” ere is something very
solemn here. Notice, he was purged from his old sins, but
through indolence and carelessness he has lost the assurance
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of this. e blessedness of by-gone days has faded from his
memory.
e Christian life is never static. One must either grow
in grace, or there will be backsliding and deterioration.
“e backslider in heart shall be lled with his own ways”
(Prov. 14:14). He who does not go on with God, but
allows himself to drift, is almost sure to lose the joy of his
salvation. Examine yourself as to this matter, and if you
nd that you have been careless in regard to the study of
your Bible, careless as to your prayer life, careless as to the
proper use of the means of grace, confess all this to God
and give diligence to walk with Him in days to come, that
you may develop a stronger Christian character.
Last of all, let me remind you that any known sin
condoned in your life will rob, you of the joy and assurance
of your salvation. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
LORD will not hear me.” Many a one who has gone on
happily with Christ for sometime, but through toying with
sin has become ensnared and entrapped into something
that has so grieved the Spirit of God that he has lost
his sense of acceptance in Christ. See to it that there is
no unconfessed sin in your life. Be sure that you are not
tolerating any secret sin which is draining you of spiritual
power and hindering your communion with God.
Worldliness, carnal indulgence of any kind,
unfaithfulness as to your Christian responsibilities,
unseemly levity, the harboring of malice or ill-will toward
others — all or any of these things are calculated to destroy
your sense of assurance. If guilty of any of them, face things
honestly in the presence of God, remembering that He has
said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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136
Do not accept the suggestion of the tempter that you
are powerless to break away from evil habits. Remember it
is not a question of your own power, but when you honestly
repent of the wrong-doing and turn to the Lord for divine
help to overcome your besetting sin, He will undertake
for you. As you reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, the
Holy Spirit will work in and through you, causing you to
triumph over tendencies toward evil, and enabling you to
live victoriously to the glory of the God who has saved you.
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137
153158
2. Concluding Words of
Counsel
NOW, I realize that your particular diculty may
not have been touched at all in the preceding pages. But
whatever it is that keeps you from the positive assurance
that your soul is saved, I beg of you not to give up in despair
and conclude that such knowledge is not for you. For
whatever your condition of mind, whatever your trouble
of conscience, whatever your particular besetment may
be, there is that in God’s holy Word which is designed to
exactly meet your case.
Will you not denitely settle it with God that you will
take the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour,
and then, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, search the
Scriptures daily, reading prayerfully and thoughtfully, and
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138
look up to God Himself for all needed enlightenment?
“e meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will
he teach his way.” Again, He says, “To this man will I
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and
trembleth at my word.”
Our blessed Lord has declared that if one is willing to
do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine. All that
is needed is to take the place of a lost sinner, in humility
of mind and contrition of heart, counting upon God who
is not willing that any should perish to reveal His mind
to you through the written Word, thus leading on to the
assurance of peace with God through Jesus Christ.
But, on the other hand, do not be neglectful of the
means of grace He has put at your disposal. If you are so
located that you can attend upon the ministry of the Word,
go as often as you can to hear the gospel proclaimed, for
when the world by its wisdom knew not God, “it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe.” Frequent, too, the place of prayer, and be ready
to consult with others who give evidence of knowing and
enjoying what you are seeking for. It was when Lydia was
at the place of prayer that Paul was sent to explain the way
of life, and the Lord opened her heart to receive it. She
was earnestly seeking in accordance with all the light she
had, and the Lord saw to it that more light came as she
followed the gleam.
Another thing is very important for any one desiring
divine illumination: Put out of your life every known sin,
so far as it is in your power to do so, and avoid all that
would tend to dele your mind and heart. David said, “If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me.”
If you continue to associate needlessly with the ungodly, or
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139
if you participate in worldly pleasures, all of which have a
tendency to harden the conscience, you cannot expect to
get help from the Spirit of God, who is grieved by all such
frivolities.
Do not waste precious time on trashy and unclean
literature. Read only what is uplifting and inspiring. Give
the rst place to your Bible, and avail yourself of good
books as you are able to obtain them, books that edify
and make eternal things more real. It is folly to expect the
assurance of salvation and yet neglect the means that God
has ordained for making known the riches of His grace.
