CERTAINTY as to our salvation can only be obtained by a full, unreserved acceptance of God’s testimony concerning those who believe on His Son. “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:3333He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. (John 3:33)). “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son” (1 John 5:1010He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (1 John 5:10)).
So it is a question of believing God, or making Him a liar. Which are you doing, reader?
You say: “I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I would not give up my hope for anything, but I have not that certainty that you speak of. I do not wish to make God a liar, but I do not feel that I am saved.”
Let me answer you by the words of another. After he got saved, he said to the writer, “I can say, I am accepted, and saved through the blood of Christ. I have God’s testimony for that.”
Mark those words: “I have God’s testimony for that.”
You say, “Did he not feel himself to be saved?”
No doubt he had deep and real feeling, for he had been on the way, as a convicted sinner, for three long years; but it was God’s testimony, and his “setting to his seal that God was true,” that gave him the blessed certainty of being saved.
Hence it was not a mere hope, nor was it based upon his ever-changing feelings, but a divine certainty, because it rested on God’s testimony concerning Christ and His precious blood.
Mark again the words of this dear soul, “I can say, that I am accepted, and saved through the blood of Christ. I have God’s testimony for that.”
Goodness, he had found out, he had none; righteousness, he had the testimony of God that he had none. “There is none righteous; no, not one” (Rom. 3.)
With him now it was neither his goodness nor his righteousness, but, “I can say I am accepted, and saved through the blood of Christ.”
“The blood of Christ.” What priceless value there is for God in the blood of Christ! In its infinite value it has met the claims of a just and righteous God in respect to our sins. In the same precious blood we find our need as guilty sinners met, and that it is the ground of our every blessing.
It is not a hope. It might have been that before the Son of God died for us, but now it is an accomplished fact. Peace has been made by the blood of His cross (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)). Redemption is accomplished by the same precious blood. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:1212Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)).
As to our feelings, they could never bear an adequate testimony to the precious blood of Christ, nor be to us the assurance of our salvation. God has borne witness to the infinite efficacy of the blood of His Son, by raising Him from the dead and giving Him glory; and it is His testimony that removes all uncertainty from the mind of the believer, and gives him the peaceful assurance that he is saved forever. “And this is the record (or witness), that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11, 1211And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11‑12)).
Wonderful words! As simple as they are assuring. Have I the Son of God? Can I claim Him as my own very Saviour, the One who died for me? Then I can be assured that I have eternal life. “He that hath the Son hath life.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)).
How good it is of God to give us words which place the matter beyond all question, and that fill the soul with gratitude and praise, and the heart too with an intense desire to serve Him, who loved us and gave Himself for us!
True praise and service are the outcome of a soul consciously saved. It is no legal performance of so much duty to get saved, or to keep one’s self saved; but the spontaneous desire of a soul that knows itself saved, and that can say, “I have God’s testimony for that.” It blesses God; it seeks by the Word to walk in paths of holiness, and in deep concern it reaches out after others, earnestly desiring their salvation.
An anxious soul once said, “Oh that God would write it in the skies that He loves me!” Thank God, we have something even better than that. It might be said that is a mere illusion, but when, by the Word of God, we are taken back to Calvary, and as we read the wondrous tale of divine love, all uncertainty leaves us, and we are assured by the agony and blood of the Saviour there that God loves us. And when we again read in the Word of our God, “These things have I written unto you who believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:1313These 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, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)), we are assured that we are saved.
In conclusion, dear reader, can you affirm, as the expression of your own faith, “I can say, I am accepted, and saved through the blood of Christ; I have God’s testimony for that”? If so, bless His holy name continually, for you can rightly sing: ―
“But when I saw the blood,
And looked on Him who shed it,
My right to peace was seen at once,
And I with transport read it;
I found myself to God brought nigh,
And ‘Victory!’ became my cry.”
E. A.