Perhaps this is the most common difficulty. Troubled individuals hear Christians speak of the joy they experienced when they understood that their sins were forgiven. An anxious one, listening to such statements, naturally gathers that it was by this flood of heavenly joy that these believers knew that they were pardoned.
Would the forgiven debtor, just mentioned, tell us that it was because he felt happy that he knew his debt was canceled? Wouldn’t he rather insist that he had good reason for feeling happy, since he knew his debt was canceled? And wouldn’t he have equal right to say, that his not feeling as happy one time as another, could not alter the value of that $100 bill clipped to his account?
But what would you think of this man’s neighbor, who is also a debtor, saying one day, If I could only feel as happy as my neighbor, I would know that my debt was wiped out too.
Could anything be more absurd? Yet how many anxious souls are making precisely the same foolish mistake.
It is beginning with a completely wrong perspective. You must begin with God instead of yourself. The Creditor’s satisfaction must be secured before the debtor’s mind can properly be at rest.
Nor is it merely a question of righteous satisfaction, though nothing less could give settled peace; for behind Calvary’s “great transaction” we find the yearning and overflowing love of God. The desire that our sins should be blotted out, originated, not in our hearts, but in His. Neither was the work of the cross the means of drawing God’s heart toward us. It was the perfect expression, the overflowing outcome of it. It was “by the grace of God” that He “tasted death for every man” (Hebrews 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)). “The Father sent the Son.”
He knew that nothing but the infinite value of the precious blood of Jesus could atone for sin. “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” He had declared long before Christ died. What’s more, “I have given it to you upon the altar” (Leviticus 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)). When God’s time had come that blood was shed, and with the Spirit’s declaration of what the blood can accomplish — it “cleanseth from all sin” — comes the announcement, “Be it known unto you ... that. ... by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)).
What a comfort to know that we are privileged to rest upon God’s thoughts; not our own. If He tells me that He, the only one who could understand the desperate character of my case, has met it in His own way, by the blood of Christ, I bow and believe Him. If He gives me the promise of what that blood can accomplish, I gratefully accept it. If He is pleased to declare what He thinks of all who have faith in that blood, I simply believe it. I believe it because God says it, and not because I feel it. Or, to put it more briefly, I believe —
1St. What God’s thoughts are about my need.
2nd. What His thoughts are about the blood of Christ whom He has given to meet that need.
3rd. What His thoughts are about all who believe His testimony as to it.
You cannot believe the first and second without being “justified from all things.” You cannot believe the third without being sure of it.
God says, “All that believe are justified from all things.” And notice, it is the present tense, not future. It is “are,” not shall be. All the evil things which God knew against them are no longer laid to their charge, and for the best of reasons, namely, that they have been reckoned against Him who died for them and rose again. There is nothing here about feeling happy. How can I be really happy till I know I am justified? And how can I know it except by the best possible authority? And what better authority than that God says so?
Upon the same authority the believer is privileged to go one step further in the assurance of his blessing. God declares that “Whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Romans 8:3030Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)).
So that if believing makes justification certain in time, justification makes glory certain in eternity; and I know both on the authority of God Himself.
Two winters ago I saw a large sheet-iron advertisement which had evidently fallen from the wall where it had been placed. I observed that the masonry of the wall had been covered with thick plaster, and that the advertisement had been fixed to this plaster. When the frosts and rains of winter came, the plaster had broken from the wall in large masses; and when it fell the advertisement naturally fell with it.
Had the iron sheet been fastened to the wall itself, it would, in all probability, not have fallen till the wall did. Now here is a valuable hint for you. Fasten your assurance of pardon to the happy feelings of today, and when, by tomorrow, your happy feelings are gone, your assurance will have gone also. But if you would have settled assurance, you must fasten it to that which cannot be unsettled. “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:8989LAMED. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89)). “The word of our God shall stand forever” (Isaiah 40:88The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8)).
David said, “I have stuck to Thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:3131I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame. (Psalm 119:31)), and if you do the same, that is, if you stick to divine testimony, divine assurance will surely stick to you. You will not be “put to shame,” either here or hereafter.