Full assurance of my salvation in Christ, and in the things freely given of God, is the longing desire of many. It is sad to meet many children of God groaning under a sense of uncertainty as to whether they are accepted of God or not; and yet the evidence—the proof that they are blessed with all spiritual blessings, are reconciled to God, are accepted in the Beloved, leave redemption, have forgiveness of sins, have been made meet to partake of the inheritance of saints in the light, have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into that of the Son of God’s love (Eph. 1, and Col. 1)— I say, the ground of the evidence of all this, true of the weakest believer, is in their hands daily—the Word of God which testifies of Christ the Living Word.
We cannot be too distinct and simple in our thoughts as to the ground of assurance. It is not feelings, which ever change as circumstances alter; or experiences, which constantly fluctuate; nor is it a measure of faith. None of these can possibly be a sure ground on which the blessed truth of full assurance reposes. I desire that those who may seek to rest on such may turn away from all in themselves, to the ever-abiding and changeless Word of God. By it you have been “born again” (1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)); it is the “seed” of God in you (1 John 3:99Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)); and its statements alone form the divine and settled ground of peace and assurance.
What saints need is to receive Scripture as God has written it. What I may think, feel, experience, or realize, is very well in its place; but the troubled soul needs to know what God has said; it is assurance in His presence-confidence that all is settled were “the day of judgment” to set in. It is settled peace—divine certainty—for which many troubled souls are longing. How blessed for such to possess it now! God has established His word in heaven—in a scene far beyond the mists and clouds which are ever darkening our horizon. There faith has a resting-place; the ground of which is divine—the Word of God; settled—it is so in heaven; and eternal—the Word lives and abides forever. The truth of assurance thus rests on ground outside, and altogether independent of our thoughts. The soul which does not possess this assurance may well judge his thoughts in light of the Lord’s gracious rebuke to His disciples after His resurrection: “Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself” (Luke 24:38,3938And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. (Luke 24:38‑39)). Thus the Lord Himself puts the evidences of assurance outside the disciples, and gives them to see them in His own blessed person. “I hate vain thoughts,” says the Psalmist (119:113). In the simplicity and confidence of faith, then, let each rest without questioning on the sure testimony of God.
The word translated “full assurance” occurs but four times in Scripture. The truth is thus given us briefly and comprehensively.
1. Full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:2222Let 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. (Hebrews 10:22)). This is “full assurance” entitling the believer to take his place as a worshipper within the wail; but as he cannot be there in his sins, this Epistle makes known to me the wondrous efficacy of the blood of Jesus in so perfectly cleansing the conscience that he can stand in the light without a spot—the conscience purged, the sins forgiven, and the heart at rest in God’s presence. Has my beloved reader tasted the joy of knowing on divine, and therefore sure, testimony, that he is before God in the enjoyment of full deliverance wrought by Christ? Has he known what it is to pass through the opened heavens—opened in the power of His blood—and worship the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, not a sin upon the conscience, and the heart set free from itself to ascend in spirit, and worship the Lamb slain?
But, further, the Epistle unfolds some of the glories and dignities of the ONE, who, by the sacrifice of Himself, purged our sins and guilt. He is the “Great High Priest.” Aaron, clad in his robes of glory and beauty, only prefigured the Christ of God. Aaron is styled “High Priest;” but the Holy Ghost, in writing of Jesus, terms Him “Great High Priest.” On earth He was the “Apostle” come down from the Father and the throne of God, to make God known. “God is love,” and “God is light” (1 John 1:5;45This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. (1 John 4:5). 8). On the Cross He was the sacrifice for our sins.
What glories are these? The Apostle of God, and Revealer of the Father, come down from heaven; the perfect sacrifice on the Cross for our sins; and as having ascended— “The Great High Priest” of our profession.
It is blessed to observe that the “blood” gives me title to stand before the Judge-as in Romans; hence justification is the grand theme in that Epistle. In the Hebrews the believer can stand before Him as The Holy One in the power of the “blood;” hence purification of sins is the great truth treated.
Are you, then, my reader, a happy worshipper within the veil? or is your place amongst the worshippers without? Have you no return of praise for the One who put away your sins, and brought you in peace to God? Isaiah it always prayer with you? Is there no praise? “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee” (Psa. 84:44Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. (Psalm 84:4)). Yes, but first you, must know you have a title to be there.
God has completely put away your sins; you are clean in His sight, and have all moral fitness to worship God, so that you have boldness to enter “in,” in “full assurance of faith.”
2. Full assurance of hope (Heb. 6:1111And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: (Hebrews 6:11)). “We are saved in hope,” says the Apostle in Rom. 8:2424For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24), thus connecting us with God’s glorious future. Let not my reader suppose that there is the slightest uncertainty inferred in these words. Just the opposite. We can anticipate the resurrection, when the poor body will share in the eternal redemption obtained by Christ, even as now we have that redemption made good in the soul. It may be well to notice that Scripture uses the word “salvation” in three ways: —(1.) As in Eph. 2:88For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8), “For by grace are ye saved through faith” —that is, complete deliverance from guilt and from the dominion or reign of sin; (2.) “Work out your own salvation,” as in Phil. 2:1212Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12) —that is, work out your own deliverance, in the power of God’s willing and doing (verse 13), from the numerous difficulties that beset the path of the saint. Work it out into practical result. (3.) “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:1111And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)); then the poor body will be fully delivered from the effects of the curse, and, ransomed from the grave, will be fashioned like unto the body of His glory (Phil. 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21)).
It is in this latter view of salvation that we are said to be “saved in hope;” it is not a peradventure, but “ we are saved,” even as to the future. So certain is the truth of a present and future salvation that in this very chapter (Rom. 8) the apostle says, “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 quicken your mortal bodies by (or, rather, on account of’) his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (verse 11). The hopes which God presents are all certainties, simply because He is the Promiser; man’s hopes are all uncertainties, because he is the promiser.
Those Hebrews who had disowned and broken with Judaism, and embraced the Christian profession, are looked at in the Epistle specially addressed to them, as on their way to heaven (chap. 3:1), to God’s rest (chap. 4:1), and to Christ glorified (chap. 3:14); but they are traversing the wilderness, battling with its difficulties, while sustained by priesthood, and corrected and disciplined by the Word of God (see chap. 4:12-16). The world is the place where the activities of faith are displayed. Thus “we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.” Diligence is urged upon the saints in view of their blessed future, and this is to be maintained till “the end” of the pilgrim-path. On the other hand, I am fully assured of the “blessed hope.” Rest and glory—the fruition of righteousness (Gal. 5:55For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Galatians 5:5))—will be entered upon and enjoyed when He comes. His love we have now; His glory and inheritance we shall share at His coming.
Have you, my reader, full assurance of this “hope”? If you have failed in apprehending the object of His first coming, namely, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself—if you do not know that He has perfectly and forever put away your sins, you cannot anticipate with joy His second coming. If I am uncertain as to the settlement of the question of sin, I shall, in consequence, dread His coming. His glory will repel rather than attract me. I have “full assurance of hope.” How? Because the One who is coming is loved, and known as the “purger of my sins.”
One cannot suppose that the truth of the coming of the Lord will be welcome to persons who have not broken with the world. Alas! that so many are attempting to do what Jesus says cannot be done: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:2121For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21)). If I am not giving all diligence to add to my faith, virtue, knowledge, &c. (2 Peter 1:5-105And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (2 Peter 1:5‑10)), I am “blind, and cannot see afar off,” and have “forgotten” that I “was purged from my old sins;” that is, my condition is practically judged by the glory before me, and the grace which purged away my sins. These are the two grand tests of all spiritual condition—the cross and the glory. (See their application in the addresses to the Seven Churches of Asia, Rev. 2 and 3.)
(To be continued.)