There are two cla.s.ses who ought not to have a.s.surance. First: those who are in the Church, but who are not converted, having never been born of the Spirit. Second: those not willing to do G.o.d"s will; who are not ready to take the place that G.o.d has mapped out for them, but want to fill some other place.
Some one will ask "Have all G.o.d"s people a.s.surance?" No; I think a good many of G.o.d"s dear people have no a.s.surance; but it is the privilege of every child of G.o.d to have beyond doubt a knowledge of his own salvation. No man is fit for G.o.d"s service who is filled with doubts. If a man is not sure of his own salvation, how can he help any one else into the kingdom of G.o.d? If I seem in danger of drowning and do not know whether I shall ever reach the sh.o.r.e, I cannot a.s.sist another. I must first get on the solid rock myself; and then I can lend my brother a helping hand. If being myself blind I were to tell another blind man how to get sight, he might reply, "First get healed yourself; and then you can tell me." I recently met with a young man who was a Christian: but he had not attained to victory over sin. He was in terrible darkness. Such an one is not fit to work for G.o.d, because he has besetting sins; and he has not the victory over his doubts, because he has not the victory over his sins.
None will have time or heart to work for G.o.d, who are not a.s.sured as to their own salvation. They have as much as they can attend to; and being themselves burdened with doubts, they cannot help others to carry their burdens. There is no rest, joy, or peace--no liberty, nor power--where doubts and uncertainty exist.
Now it seems as if there are three wiles of Satan against which we ought to be on our guard. In the first place he moves all his kingdom to keep us away from Christ; then he devotes himself to get us into "Doubting Castle:" but if we have, in spite of him, a clear ringing witness for the Son of G.o.d, he will do all he can to blacken our characters and belie our testimony.
Some seem to think that it is presumption not to have doubts; but doubt is very dishonoring to G.o.d. If any one were to say that they had known a person for thirty years and yet doubted him, it would not be very creditable; and when we have known G.o.d for ten, twenty or thirty years does it not reflect on His veracity to doubt Him.
Could Paul and the early Christians and martyrs have gone through what they did if they had been filled with doubts, and had not known whether they were going to heaven or to perdition after they had been burned at the stake? They must have had a.s.surance.
Mr. Spurgeon says: "I never heard of a stork that when it met with a fir tree demurred as to its right to build its nest there; and I never heard of a coney yet that questioned whether it had a permit to run into the rock. Why, these creatures would soon perish if they were always doubting and fearing as to whether they had a right to use providential provisions.
"The stork says to himself, "Ah, here is a fir tree:" he consults with his mate, "Will this do for the nest in which we may rear our young?" "Aye," says she; and they gather the materials, and arrange them. There is never any deliberation, "May we build here?" but they bring their sticks and make their nest.
"The wild goat on the crag does not say, "Have I a right here?" No, he must be somewhere: and there is a crag which exactly suits him; and he springs upon it.
"Yet, though these dumb creatures know the provision of their G.o.d, the sinner does not recognize the provision of his Saviour. He quibbles and questions, "May I?" and am "I am afraid it is not for me;" and "I think it cannot be meant for me;" and "I am afraid it is too good to be true."
"And yet n.o.body ever said to the stork, "Whosoever buildeth on this fir tree shall never have his nest pulled down." No inspired word has ever said to the coney, "Whosoever runs into this rock cleft shall never be driven out of it." If it had been so it would make a.s.surance doubly sure."
"And yet here is Christ provided for sinners, just the sort of a Saviour sinners need; and the encouragement is added, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out;" "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.""
Now let us come to the Word. John tells us in his Gospel what Christ did for us on earth. In his Epistle He tells us what He is doing for us in heaven as our Advocate. In his Gospel there are only two chapters in which the word "believe" does not occur. With these two exceptions, every chapter in John is "Believe! _Believe!!_ Believe!!!" He tells us in xx. 31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of G.o.d, and that, believing, ye might have life through His name." That is the purpose for which he wrote the Gospel--"that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of G.o.d: and that, believing, we might have life through His name" (John xx. 31).
Turn to 1 John v. 13, he there tells us why he wrote this Epistle: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of G.o.d." Notice to whom he writes it "You that believe on the name of the Son of G.o.d; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of G.o.d." There are only five short chapters in this first Epistle, and the word "know"
occurs over forty times. It is "_Know!_ Know!! KNOW!!!" The Key to it is Know! and all through the Epistle there rings out the refrain--"that we might know that we have eternal life."
I went twelve hundred miles down the Mississippi in the spring some years ago; and every evening, just as the sun went down, you might have seen men, and sometimes women, riding up to the banks of the river on either side on mules or horses, and sometimes coming on foot, for the purpose of lighting up the Government lights; and all down that mighty river there were landmarks which guided the pilots in their dangerous navigation. Now G.o.d has given us lights or landmarks to tell us whether we are His children or not; and what we need to do is to examine the tokens He has given us.
In the third chapter of John"s first Epistle there are five things worth knowing.
In the fifth verse we read the first: "And ye _know_ that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." Not what I have done, but what HE has done. Has He failed in His mission? Is He not able to do what He came for? Did ever any heaven-sent man fail yet? and could G.o.d"s own Son fail? He was manifested to take away our sins.
Again, in the nineteenth verse, the second thing worth knowing: "And hereby _we know_ that we are of the truth, and shall _a.s.sure_ our hearts before Him." We know that we are of the truth. And if the truth make us free, we shall be free indeed. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John viii. 36.)
The third thing worth knowing is in the fourteenth verse, "_We know_ that we have pa.s.sed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." The natural man does not like G.o.dly people, nor does he care to be in their company. "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." He has no spiritual life.
The fourth thing worth knowing we find in verse twenty-four: "And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby _we know_ that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." We can tell what kind of Spirit we have if we possess the Spirit of Christ--a Christ-like spirit--not the same in degree, but the same in kind. If I am meek, gentle, and forgiving; if I have a spirit filled with peace and joy; if I am long-suffering and gentle, like the Son of G.o.d--that is a test: and in that way we are to tell whether we have eternal life or not.
The fifth thing worth knowing, and the best of all, is "Beloved, _now_." Notice the word "Now." It does not say when you come to die.
"Beloved, _now_ are we the sons of G.o.d; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but _we know_ that, when He shall appear; we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (v. 2).
But some will say, "Well, I believe all that; but then I have sinned since I became a Christian." Is there a man or a woman on the face of the earth who has not sinned since becoming a Christian? Not one!
There never has been, and never will be, a soul on this earth who has not sinned, or who will not sin, at some time of their Christian experience. But G.o.d has made provision for believers" sins. _We_ are not to make provision for them; but G.o.d has. Bear that in mind.
Turn to 1 John ii. 1: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." He is here writing to the righteous. "If any man sin, _we_"--John put himself in--"we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." What an Advocate! He attends to our interests at the very best place--the throne of G.o.d. He said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away" (John xvi. 7). He went away to become our High Priest, and also our Advocate. He has had some hard cases to plead; but he has never lost one: and if you entrust your immortal interests to Him, He will "present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).
The past sins of Christians are all forgiven as soon as they are confessed; and they are never to be mentioned. That is a question which is not to be opened up again. If our sins have been put away, that is the end of them. They are not to be remembered; and G.o.d will not mention them any more. This is very plain. Suppose I have a son who, while I am from home, does wrong. When I go home he throws his arms around my neck and says, "Papa, I did what you told me not to do. I am very sorry. Do forgive me." I say: "Yes, my son," and kiss him. He wipes away his tears, and goes off rejoicing.
But the next day he says: "Papa, I wish you would forgive me for the wrong I did yesterday." I should say: "Why, my son, that thing is settled; and I don"t want it mentioned again." "But I wish you would forgive me: it would help me to hear you say, "I forgive you."" Would that be honoring me? Would it not grieve me to have my boy doubt me?
But to gratify him I say again, "I forgive you, my son."
And if, the next day, he were again to bring up that old sin, and ask forgiveness, would not that grieve me to the heart? And so, my dear reader, if G.o.d has forgiven us, never let us mention the past. Let us forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those which are before, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of G.o.d in Christ Jesus. Let the sins of the past go; for "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John i. 9).
And let me say that this principle is recognized in courts of justice. A case came up in the courts of a country--I won"t say where--in which a man had had trouble with his wife; but he forgave her, and then afterwards brought her into court. And, when it was known that he had forgiven her, the judge said that the thing was settled. The judge recognized the soundness of the principle, that if a sin were once forgiven there was an end of it. And do you think the Judge of all the earth will forgive you and me, and open the question again? Our sins are gone for time and eternity, if G.o.d forgives: and what we have to do is to confess and forsake our sins.
Again in 2 Corinthians xiii. 5: "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Now examine yourselves. Try your religion. Put it to the test. Can you forgive an enemy? That is a good way to know if you are a child of G.o.d. Can you forgive an injury, or take an affront, as Christ did? Can you be censured for doing well, and not murmur? Can you be misjudged and misrepresented, and yet keep a Christ-like spirit?
Another good test is to read Galatians v., and notice the fruits of the Spirit; and see if you have them. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." If I have the fruits of the Spirit I must have the Spirit. I could not have the fruits without the Spirit any more than there could be an orange without the tree. And Christ says "Ye shall know them by their fruits;" "for the tree is known by his fruits." Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good. The only way to get the fruit is to have the Spirit. That is the way to examine ourselves whether we are the children of G.o.d.
Then there is another very striking pa.s.sage. In Romans viii. 9, Paul says: "Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." That ought to settle the question, even though one may have gone through all the external forms that are considered necessary by some to const.i.tute a member of a Church. Read Paul"s life, and put yours alongside of it. If your life resembles his, it is a proof that you are born again--that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus.
But although you may be born again, it will require time to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous; but sanctification is a life-work. We are to grow in wisdom. Peter says "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. iii. 18); and in the first chapter of his Second Epistle, "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience G.o.dliness; and to G.o.dliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barron nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." So that we are to add grace to grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth; but it does not attain its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of G.o.d, but not a matured Christian. The eighth of Romans is very important, and we should be very familiar with it. In the fourteenth verse the apostle says: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of G.o.d they are the sons of G.o.d." Just as the soldier is led by his captain, the pupil by his teacher, or the traveller by his guide; so the Holy Spirit will be the guide of every true child of G.o.d.
Then let me call your attention to another fact. All Paul"s teaching in nearly every Epistle rings out the doctrine of a.s.surance. He says in 2 Corinthians v. 1: "For we _know_ that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of G.o.d, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He had a t.i.tle to the mansions above, and he says--_I know it_. He was not living in uncertainty. He said: "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ"
(Phil. i. 23); and if he had been uncertain he would not have said that. Then in Colossians iii. 4, he says: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." I am told that Dr. Watts" tombstone bears this same pa.s.sage of Scripture. There is no doubt there.
Then turn to Colossians i. 12: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who _hath_ delivered us from the power of darkness, and _hath_ translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."
Three _haths_: "hath made us meet;" "hath delivered us;" and "hath translated us." It does not say that He is going to make us meet; that He is going to deliver; that He is going to translate.
Then again in verse 14th: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." We are either forgiven or we are not, we should not give ourselves any rest until we get into the kingdom of G.o.d; nor until we can each look up and say, "I know that if my earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, I have a building of G.o.d, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"
(2 Cor. v. 1).
Look at Romans viii. 32: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" If He gave us His Son, will He not give us the certainty that He is ours. I have heard this ill.u.s.tration. There was a man who owed $10,000, and would have been made a bankrupt, but a friend came forward and paid the sum. It was found afterwards that he owed a few dollars more; but he did not for a moment entertain a doubt that, as his friend had paid the larger amount, he would also pay the smaller. And we have high warrant for saying that if G.o.d has given us His Son He will with Him also freely give us all things; and if we want to realize our salvation beyond controversy He will not leave us in darkness.
Again in the 33d verse: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of G.o.d"s elect? It is G.o.d that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of G.o.d, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princ.i.p.alities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of G.o.d, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That has the right ring in it. There is a.s.surance for you. "I Know."
Do you think that the G.o.d who has justified me will condemn me? That is quite an absurdity. G.o.d is going to save us so that neither men, angels, nor devils, can bring any charge against us or Him. He will have the work complete.
Job lived in a darker day than we do; but we read in Job xix. 25: "I _know_ that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth."
The same confidence breathes through Paul"s last words to Timothy: "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I _know_ whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." It is not a matter of doubt, but of knowledge. "I know." "I am persuaded." The word "Hope," is not used in the Scripture to express doubt. It is used in regard to the second coming of Christ, or to the resurrection of the body. We do not say that we "hope" we are Christians. I do not say that I "hope" I am an American, or that I "hope" I am a married man. These are settled things. I may say that I "hope" to go back to my home, or I hope to attend such a meeting. I do not say that I "hope" to come to this country, for I am here. And so, if we are born of G.o.d we know it; and He will not leave us in darkness if we search the Scriptures.
Christ taught this doctrine to His seventy disciples when they returned elated with their success, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name." The Lord seemed to check them, and said that He would give them something to rejoice in.
"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." (Luke x. 20.)
It is the privilege of every one of us to know, beyond a doubt, that our salvation is sure. Then we can work for others. But if we are doubtful of our own salvation, we are not fit for the service of G.o.d.
Another pa.s.sage is John v. 24: "Verily, verily I say unto you: He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into "_judgment_,"" (the new translation has it so), "but is pa.s.sed from death unto life."
Some people say that you never can tell till you are before the great white throne of Judgment whether you are saved or not. Why, my dear friend, if your life is hid with Christ in G.o.d, you are not coming into judgment for your sins. We may come into judgment for reward.
This is clearly taught where the lord reckoned with the servant to whom five talents had been given, and who brought other five talents saying, "Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matt. xxv. 20, 21.) We shall be judged for our stewardship. That is one thing; but salvation--eternal life--is another.
Will G.o.d demand payment twice of the debt which Christ has paid for us? If Christ bear my sins in His own body on the tree, am I to answer for them as well?