When speaking of the assurance of salvation, we are often met with such answers as, “It does not do to be too sure,” or, “Is it not presumption?” or, “I do not think it right to be so confident.” If any who are accustomed to make such replies should read these lines, we would earnestly beseech them to weigh the passage of Scripture where the words at the head of this paper occur, and we feel assured they will no longer speak so. Let us quote it: “Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him [or, acceptable to Him]” (2 Cor. 5:5-9).
It is the Apostle Paul who thus speaks of that which is true of Christians, and he shows that all the work and blessing is of God; He is the source and author of it; it is He that wrought His people for it and He who gave and still gives them the earnest of the Spirit. “Therefore we are always confident.” What a solid foundation for our confidence to be based upon — confidence because from beginning to end it is a work of God. Man has no part in the matter. He is perfectly helpless in himself; without strength, he can do nothing. But God, who has the glory in view, comes in and fits the poor, weak, human vessel for it. He takes us up in pure grace, puts away our sins, justifies us in Christ, and gives us the Spirit as the earnest of the glory to follow. “Therefore we are always confident.” Well may we be! Who can frustrate the purpose, power and work of God? No one. Satan is a vanquished foe, man is set aside in the cross, and the whole work is of God — a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17 JND). How then can the Christian be so confident? Confidence in God is that which honors Him.
Feelings of Failure
“But my difficulty,” says one, “is in myself: I feel I am such a poor, failing creature that I fear to be too confident.” Just so, and well you may, as long as you are looking at yourself. If you wait for confidence until you cease to fail, you will have to wait a long time; indeed, until you leave this world altogether. Confidence in God displaces self-confidence. The Apostle was always confident because he had learned to rest always in God instead of himself, and that is an important lesson to learn.
Knowledge
And notice next what goes along with it — knowledge. “Knowing,” he continues, “that, whilst we are present in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight).” We are confident, not hoping, nor thinking, nor feeling, but knowing. “Always confident, knowing.” He was longing to be with the Lord — we should be also. But how can that be if we are self-occupied and full of doubt and uncertainty? Not that he desired to die, but to be glorified, as he says in the fourth verse: “We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” He knew that he might fall asleep, his spirit passing out of the body into the presence of the Lord in the unclothed state, but this is not the proper and immediate Christian hope. Christ is coming, and mortality shall be swallowed up of life, not of death. The Christian should be looking to go up, not down — to go into glory, and not into the unclothed state. We wait “for the adoption, to wit, the redemption [not the corruption] of our body” (Rom. 8:2323And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)).
No Ifs, Ands or Buts
And then in 2 Corinthians 5:8 he confirms his statement: “We are confident, I say.” Not a word to bolster you up in your up-and-down state, not the slightest ground for you to have the least bit of confidence in yourself in any way whatever. And there is not the vestige of an “if” or a “but” to justify a moment’s lack of confidence in God as to the future. God begins, carries on, and ends His work. He saves, gives the Spirit as the earnest, and fills the soul with confidence and knowledge, removing all fear. And He creates a desire in the soul to be with Christ where He is. He would have us then “always confident.” Are you?
Empty Profession
It is one thing, dear reader, to cast in your lot with Christians and to preach, but it is quite another to be a sinner saved by grace, running with patience the race set before us, fighting the good fight of faith, looking for the glory. By grace ye are saved, not by running or fighting, and if saved, God would have you always confident. But if any profess whose life is a denial of their profession, the Word of God is unmistakably plain: “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:44Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (John 2:4)). Such will surely prove to be worthless castaways. May each believer in Jesus who reads these lines be found always confident till that day.
E. H. C., adapted