Full Assurance of Faith, of Hope, of Understanding, and of the Gospel
Unknown Author
Table of Contents
Full Assurance: of Faith, of Hope, of Understanding, and of the Gospel
Full assurance of salvation in Christ, and in the things freely given to us of God, is the longing desire of many. It is sad to meet so 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, have 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; 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 always 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 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 1:23); it is the “seed” of God in you (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 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” now 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 24:38-39). 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 thoughts,” writes the Holy Spirit (Psa. 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.
Full Assurance of Faith
1. Full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22). This is “full assurance” entitling the believer to take his place as a worshipper within the veil; but as he cannot be there in his sins, this Epistle makes known 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 stain or soil 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 4:8; 1:5). 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 of.
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 to the One who put away your sins, and brought you in peace to God? Is it always prayer with you? Is there no praise? “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee” (Psa. 84:4); 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.”
Full Assurance of Hope
2. Full assurance of hope (Heb. 6:11). “We are saved in hope,” says the Apostle in 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 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 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. 13:11); soon 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. 3:21).
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 (Romans 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” (Rom. 8:11). 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 (Heb. 3:1), to God’s rest (Heb. 4:1), and to Christ glorified (Heb. 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 Heb. 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. 5:5)—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. 6:24). If I am not giving all diligence to add to my faith, virtue, knowledge, etc. (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, Revelation 2-3.)
How safe and calm one may be amidst the rough tossing of this world! How blessedly one can ride over its angry billows, sustained through every storm by the anchor which has been cast “within the veil,” and “Hope” which has entered there. Do storms or tempests ever sweep over that scene—the unclouded presence of God? NEVER! And our “hope” —the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul—has entered there.
Reader, have you fled for refuge to that hope set before you? Mark, this is not the fleeing of the sinner to Christ, but of the saint. He it is who has fled from his corrupt nature, from self, from the world, and “Iaid hold upon the hope set before him.” Are you seeking to better your condition in the world—to establish your name and family in the scene of the Saviour’s dishonors? Do not His position and aspect towards the world determine yours? Accept, then, the cross as your portion here. All your blessings are spiritual, and you are in Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).
To “lay hold upon the hope” supposes energy of faith. The joy set before the Lord sustained Him; for it He endured the cross, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2). If His path is set before us; so also His joy—the hope of glory—the being with Him and like Him is set before us.
But as if it were not enough for God to come into the midst of our sorrows and trials, and sustain our hearts with promises of rest and glory and blessing, He would establish our souls in divine certainty by His promise and oath. His unchangeable purpose to bless us with Christ has been confirmed by His oath.
The worldly Lot knew nothing of all this. If we would enjoy the blessed communings of His heart—if we would have the knowledge of His eternal counsels establishing our souls, we must be found in the path of practical discipleship.
Thus, then, the ground of “full assurance of hope” is the word and oath of God. In other words, it is not the poor, tried, perplexed heart casting his eye within or around to discover if he has this assurance; but God has written it down plainly, so that faith may take it up, and the man go on his way a rejoicing saint.
Full Assurance of Understanding
3. Full assurance of understanding (Col. 2:2). Our only safeguard against Ritualism, and Rationalism is realized union with Christ. I do not mean the doctrine of union to Christ by the Holy Ghost. I do not believe that the Colossians “gave up” the truth that they had been united to Christ by the Holy Ghost; but practically they were not in the power of it; they had allowed Jewish ordinances, which the Apostle styles “elements of the world,” better known by us as Ritualism; and the philosophical theories of the Gentile mind, known to us as Rationalism, to come between them and Christ. The sense of their union with Christ was thus enfeebled in the soul. This condition is met by a display of the glories of Christ. There is not a more magnificent unfolding or elevated character of truth throughout the range of Scripture than is found in the first chapter. Who is He with whom the saints are associated? He is the image of the invisible God; Firstborn of creation as to rank and dignity; Creator of the visible and invisible; all created for Him—for His glory; before all things as Creator and Son—not Son from eternity, but in eternity. Created “by Him” displays His power; created “for Him” displays His glory. “By Him all things consist.” What we term “Providence” is simply Christ’s power in sustaining the universe; creation in its vast extent subsists through Him. Thus He heads creation, glory, and providence. But this is not all; not only have we His personal glories, but we have His relative dignities also. His death has opened up other fields, that “in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” “He is the head of the body,” as also head of creation; and “firstborn from the dead.” Now in faith I can look up to the right hand of God, and see there, by faith, what none ever saw before Stephen—a Man glorified in the place of highest exaltation.
In this wondrous catalog of the Blessed One’s glories we have, as has been taught elsewhere, two headships—“creation” and “the body;” two reconciliations—things and persons, the former to come, the latter accomplished; two ministries—the gospel and the church.
The substantial truth of Christianity is the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth. He is here in a way altogether new from anything which has gone before. He always quickened; was the spirit of testimony and prophecy; but as soon as redemption was an accomplished fact, and Christ glorified on high, the Holy Ghost came down; the day of Pentecost was fully come; long since prefigured by the “feast of first-fruits” (Lev. 23:15-17). His action was a twofold one, uniting the saints to Christ exalted as Man, thus forming them “His body” and “one body,” and dwelling with them forever. The Spirit thus gives us the consciousness that we are in Christ up there, as also that Christ is in us down here— “the hope of glory.” A more exalted privilege could not be ours; but be it remembered that it involves serious and weighty responsibility.
Now the Apostle is in an agony before God that the saints unknown to him might have full understanding of the mystery of God, in order to its practical acknowledgment. But how acknowledge the mystery if I do not know it? Are you indifferent to God’s counsels and thoughts about Christ? Do you say, It is enough for me to know I am saved? Consummate selfishness! What are you saved for? Is it not to reflect the glory of Christ, and shine in His likeness forever? You cannot walk as a “member of the body of Christ” if you know not what that body is. You cannot answer to the responsibilities of your position if you know not what that position is. No wonder that Ritualism, which feeds the imagination with empty shadows and takes away my Lord; and Rationalism, the spinning of the human brain, lands the soul in the dark region of practical skepticism. But if philosophy and traditional religion are thrown aside as worthless, the Holy Ghost would have you use the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in the mystery of God. Full assurance of understanding in the mystery of God is the sure antidote to the speculative mind of the Greek, and the pious flesh of the Jew or so-called Christian.
Full Assurance of the Gospel
4. Full assurance of the Gospel (1 Thess. 1:5). The word here is the same as in the cases we have been looking at.
The responsibility of the Evangelist in making known the full-orbed gospel of the grace of God is very great. It is a solemn consideration that the state of soul, the walk, and place in the glory are very much determined by the Gospel and the manner of its presentation, and the life of the Evangelist: “For our Gospel,” says the Apostle, “came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance (lit. ‘much full assurance’), as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.” Paul, in addressing his son Timothy, said: “Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee” (1 Tim. 4:16).
If we would produce conviction of the truth in the minds of our readers or hearers, our testimony must be clothed in the power of the Holy Ghost. We cannot lead on souls further than we are ourselves, and if we are not filled ourselves with the unspeakable importance of the divine truths we are communicating—if these truths have not formed our lives so that we are living witnesses of the testimony we proclaim, we shall only damage souls and produce weakness and uncertainty in the minds of others, instead of “full assurance.” We have a fine instance of the spirit in which we ought to preach in the case of the little captive maid in the land of Syria: “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). “Would God!” She was in earnest, and so she communicated her “full assurance” to her mistress and household, and to the king and court of Syria.
The power of God, communion in the Holy Ghost, and full assurance should always be the certain accompaniments of the Gospel. It was so with those to whom Paul wrote. They received the Gospel, in which is revealed the “righteousness of God,” freely owning the judgment of God upon the flesh. Accepting that judgment upon their state and Adam-standing, they could rejoice in the perfect deliverance wrought for them by Christ. They had full assurance of all this, in that they had a dead, risen, and glorified Christ preached to them.
Let the reader distinctly understand that life is not peace; and that until the full work of Christ in condemning sin, root and branch, be known, there cannot be assurance or peace in the soul. The learning of this is the useful lesson of Romans 7.
We have thus presented to us the truth of “full assurance” of faith, (Heb. 10:22); of hope, (Heb. 6:11); of “understanding in the mystery of God” (Col. 2:2); and of heart and mind in the Gospel, (1 Thess. 1:5).
May the Lord bless these thoughts for His name’s sake!
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