“CAN you say this?”
“That is a very personal question.” “Surely it is; but salvation is intensely personal. A personal sinner needs a personal Saviour. ‘I mean to slip into heaven with the crowd,’ said a careless young fellow; but he made a great mistake. Many, ah! many slip into hell with the crowd, but none ever get into heaven that way. Bear with me, then, if I repeat and press the question—In view of those mysterious realities, sin, death, and judgment, can you say, ‘We know’?” “Suppose I turn the tables and ask, ‘Can you say it?”
“Certainly, my doubting friend, otherwise how could I preach the gospel? Fancy a man advocating temperance who does not know the temporal benefits that accrue to those who accept the principles of total abstinence! Fancy a doctor prescribing a medicine who has never verified it, and does not know the effects it has on the human frame! Fancy a captain undertaking to carry his passengers to their desired port of destination, and yet he does not know the course he ought to steer!”
“Well, you are very positive, and if a man is that about anything his assurance alone often becomes infectious, and carries conviction with it. They say the power of Martin Luther lay in his dogmatism.”
“Say rather in the Word of God he so dogmatically insisted upon. A solitary monk shook the civilized world because he unearthed the long-lost Bible from the rubbish of centuries, and used it against superstition and priestcraft! But to return to the question which you have not yet answered: Can you say with the apostle, ‘We know’?”
“Sir, just now you called me your ‘doubting friend,’ and I must confess I do doubt if any fallible man can face eternity and say, ‘We know.’”
“But Paul could say it.”
“Ah, yes; but Paul was a great apostle, an inspired man, and one who had wonderful visions and revelations, but we” ―
“Wait a moment. What think you was the ground of Paul’s confidence what made him so sure?”
“Perhaps you will tell me?”
“It is simple enough. The ground of Paul’s confidence was not what he was, or even what grace made him.”
“What was it, then?
“It was the same as the ground of every other saved sinner’s confidence―the Word of God! He believed what God told him, and was sure; and we can believe what God tells us, and be sure! We can be as sure of salvation as Paul was, because we have the same sure foundation to rest upon as he had.”
“I really wish I had this assurance. Sometimes I think all is right, and feel the consolations of religion; but soon I get all uncertain again. However, I always hope for the best.”
“That is to say―you wish, you think, you feel, and you hope, but you never know?”
“Exactly.”
“They are very bold.”
“Faith is bold―not timid, like unbelief―when it is a question of the truth of the Word of God.” “But does that Word warrant us being so bold?”
“ ‘Search, and see.’ Look up the expression ‘We know’ in ‘Cruden’s Concordance,’ and observe how often it flows from the inspired pen. John’s writings are full of it: and Paul employs it so frequently that it has been called ‘a technical term of Christianity, indicating common Christian knowledge.”
“How is it, then, that many of our religious teachers tell us that none can be certain in time what their eternal condition will be?”
“‘To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ Let them speak for themselves! If a man declares he cannot tell one color from another, I pity him; poor fellow, he is color-blind. But if he wants to persuade me that nobody can tell, I smile at his folly, for I know differently. The fact of his being color-blind does not make others so!”
“I noticed in the text you began with there is an ‘if.’ Now, does not that imply a doubt?”
“Why is it there?”
“That is what I want to know.”
“Let us look at the whole passage. It speaks of a certainty and an uncertainty. The certainty is in the words ‘We know.’ Paul does not merely say, ‘I know,’ because the knowledge he refers to is not limited to himself, neither is it bequeathed to a privileged, and a sainted few. It is the family legacy of grace, the birthright of every believer, the common heritage of all the children of God! And observe, when it is a matter of what and where we shall be hereafter, there is no doubt implied in the apostle’s mode of expression. ‘We know... we have,’ he cries. Could language be more absolute?”
“Scarcely; but what about the uncertainty—the ‘if’?”
“That refers to death. When he speaks of death, at once he seems to pause, hesitate, and change his tone. He is uncertain, for he does not know if he will die or be among the number of those who ‘are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.’ If the Lord came whilst he was still alive, then Paul knew he would not die at all. Hence he does not say ‘when,’ for it would assume death to be a certainty to the believer; but ‘if,’ which shows it is an uncertainty. We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved’ (as it will if we die) we have a building of God.’ It is true if we die we do not possess a glorified body when we die, but when we are raised from the dead; or, if we live till the Lord comes, when we are ‘changed’; but the passage teaches us that whether alive in the body or whether ‘unclothed,’ and thus in a disembodied state, our eternal future is secured.”
“The reverse of this appears to be taught by many of our ecclesiastical instructors.”
“Yes, indeed. Ask them, ‘Is it certain that we shall die?’ and how they will stare. ‘Die! of course. “It is appointed unto all men once to die.’” Thus they misquote Scripture. Go on and inquire, ‘Can we be sure of heaven before we die?’ and the answer will be, ‘No, certainly not; none can be sure of heaven till they reach it.’ With them, assurance is assumption!”
“Still, learned and gifted men, whose piety and faith in Christ we cannot question, have lived and died without the certain knowledge you refer to.”
“Doubtless, and some have gone to heaven without it, because the blood of Christ is the soul’s passport to glory, and not learning, gift, piety, or even faith. However, faith is the hand that receives, carries, and presents the passport. A weak faith will bring us to heaven, but a strong faith will bring heaven to us! Now that is what we want―heaven begun on earth, and that is what we shall enjoy if we have ‘full assurance of faith.’”
“But, it seems presumption to affirm as true of oneself what so many good men stand in doubt of.”
“If God says it, is it presumption to believe it? Presumption to believe what God has said, and so credit Him with telling the truth―can it be?”
“Well, really, many people think it true humility to doubt.”
“Far be the thought!”
“Then why not believe that which God has spoken in His Word? Can you imagine a gracious and merciful God bringing myriads of rational beings into existence, and leaving them in total darkness as to whence they came, and whither they go? A wiseacre of this world has said, ‘Every cradle asks―whence? and every coffin―whither?’”
“My difficulty is not ‘whence.’ I know whence I came. I came from Adam, a fallen creature, who by his transgression and disobedience brought sin and misery into the world.”
“How do you know that?”
“From the Bible, to be sure. Where else could I learn it?”
“And I know from the Bible whither I go! Both ‘whence’ and ‘whither’ are answered for me by the same blessed Book.”
“That is simple enough.”
“There is nothing simpler than the gospel. ‘He said He would, and He will,’ was a child’s definition of her Faith,’ and not all the theological schools in Christendom can give a better one.
‘Oh, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven’s easy, artless, unencumbered plan.’
And yet, though simple,’ there is a charm, a depth, a power in the gospel that stamps it as divine.”
“I would give anything to have clear evidences’ (as they are called) of my salvation.”
“You will never get them outside the covers of your Bible. I’ve heard of a pious man who said his evidences were always clearer on a fine day.’ Alas I they were in his own heart, which God declares is ‘deceitful above all things.’ If a man’s ‘evidences’ of being saved are his feelings, no wonder if they change with the weather; but if they are written by the finger of God in His Word, they cannot vary.
‘Be my feelings what they will,
Jesus is my Saviour still.’”
“But suppose I believed, and was assured of my salvation, and tomorrow I doubted. Suppose I”―
“Friend, Christianity never supposes; but if you will suppose, then I say with another, When you suppose yourself in a difficulty, the best thing is to suppose yourself out of it again.’ Leave the future with God.
‘The weakest saint shall win the day,
Though death and hell obstruct the way.’
Your present state is interesting, but intolerable. Don’t mind if I speak frankly. You have divine life in the sense of being born again, or you would not have these living movements in your soul after God; but you have not peace. You are in ‘Doubting Castle.’ ‘Giant Despair’ cannot deprive you of heaven, but he can and does make you miserable on earth. Why be under his lock and key?”
“How am I to get free?”
“Wield at once ‘the sword of the Spirit’ and slay him. Jesus said, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”
“What is the sword of the Spirit?”
“The Word of God spoken in the power of the Spirit.”
“How am I to wield it?”
“‘With thy mouth.’”
“What do you mean?’”
“What does Paul say? ‘The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’” (Rom. 10:8-108But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8‑10)).
“I fear that I don’t exactly catch your meaning. Will you make it a little plainer? I am really deeply concerned.”
“Well, in your heart the Word is sheathed. It affects you, for you believe it, but it does not affect others! But in your mouth it becomes naked; that is to say, you confess it, and so wield it, and others feel its keen edge. Do you see that?”
“Yes; go on.”
“The bare Word of God is wonderfully effective against both man and Satan. As to man, ‘Thus saith the Lord’ carries more convincing power with it than all the Christian ‘Apologies,’ ‘Essays and Reviews,’ ‘Bodies of Divinity,’ &c., put together. And as to Satan, when he marshals his dark legions of doubts against the soul, a few thrusts with the sword of the Spirit will vanquish him and all his fierce array. ‘It is written’ is the only weapon in the arsenal of God, but it is always effective.”
“I am sure it is; but please go on.”
“‘Try him wi’ a text, laddie,’ was the old Scotchwoman’s advice to a troubled one, sorely beset by Satan, and it was good counsel. If you will allow me to refer to my own history, let me say that the devil has never even attempted to make me doubt my salvation for twenty years past! He found out it was no use. When he assailed me I fell back on a text, and planted the simple faith of my immortal soul on the naked rock of God’s immovable Word, and, thus established, not all the powers of hell were able to dislodge me.”
“I should think not! ―Oh, sir, the light is dawning; ―I do indeed seem to see dimly what I never saw before.”
“Thank God! Like the blind man of the eighth of Mark, you, as it were, see men as trees, walking.’ It was so with myself. When newly converted I could not explain the gospel intelligently, for I did not understand it. Afterwards, under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, the wonderful scheme of salvation became plain; but at the start it was with me as it is with many others―simply a matter of faith. From the Epistle to the Romans I have since understood something of the great foundation truths of the gospel; but what started me on the way to heaven was believing! Like the gaoler, I asked the question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ ‘Like him I received the peace-speaking answer, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;’ and like him I ‘rejoiced, believing in God.’ I looked at my Bible, and said, ‘There it is in black and white, and I believe it, just because God says it.’ Thus when Satan hurled his fiery darts, they rattled harmlessly against the thick bosses of the shield of faith.
God says it―my sword.
I believe it―my shield.
‘God says it’ smote the foe hip and thigh, and made me invincible. ‘I believe it’ foiled his wild rage and unbelieving doubts, and made me invulnerable. Oh, my brother, my brother, don’t allow the arch-fiend to rob you any longer of your proper birthright, ‘knowledge of salvation.’ Cry shame on your coward heart, grasp the sword and shield, and, with your eye on Christ, show the enemy a bold front.
“Wield the sword―you are invincible.
Raise the shield―you are invulnerable.”
Reader! what can quiet the heart and soothe the convicted conscience? Nothing but simple faith in the Word of God. Confidence in it produces confession, of it, and certainty by it; and thus, calmly reposing on its testimony to the value and efficacy of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to fearlessly contemplate the revolving cycles of eternity, and cry, “We know.” S. J. B. C.