Helps to Full Assurance
(No. 1791)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 20, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you
may believe on the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13.
How very simple this all is! John had an eagle's wings with which to
soar aloft and an eagle's eyes with which to penetrate into great
mysteries–and yet of all the writers of the Old or New Testament he is
one of the simplest. He never endeavors to show you the greatness of
his mind or the grandeur of his rhetoric. On the contrary, he speaks as
a child to those who are children in the school of love. I would that
all of us who try to teach others would remember this and sink
ourselves in our lesson.
It is equally notable how practical John is. When he writes, he always
has a worthy intention in every line. "These are written," he says, and
he explains the design with which he penned the record. These Epistles
are not written to dazzle you, nor to lead you into speculation, nor to
gratify your curiosity–but these are written "that you may know that
you have eternal life." The practical objective may seem, to the
high-soaring votaries of modern thought, to be commonplace, but John
had a deep veneration for matters which moderns despise. The
commonplaces of theology are the greenest of the pastures wherein the
sheep of God feed and lie down. It is infinitely more to our benefit to
know that we have eternal life than to be able to predict the future of
empires or to forecast the destiny of kings! It is of more practical
importance for us to know that we have eternal life than to be able to
explain all mysteries, or to speak with tongues.
John acts according to his loving heart when he writes to lead his
Brethren into the assured knowledge of their personal possession of
eternal life. When he tells us his design, it is that he may help to
accomplish his purpose–for by informing men of understanding why he is
writing, he stirs them up to see his purpose and to fall in with it.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you
may believe on the name of the Son of God."
Dear Friends, if this is the design of the inspired Apostle, let us not
be slow to cooperate with him, but let us pray, this morning, for the
full assurance of faith, that we may know for sure that eternal life is
pulsing in our hearts! May you who have not believed in Jesus feel a
fervent desire within your spirits to take that preliminary step and
become believers in the Son of God! Come, then, to the text, and
consider with us, first, to whom it was written–"These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." Secondly,
to what end it is written–"That you may know that you have eternal
life." This will lead us, thirdly, to consider how that which was
written in this Epistle conduces to this blessed confidence. And then,
lastly, I shall have to call your attention to an added matter which is
never forgotten by John, even when he writes with the design of
promoting the highest form of Christian attainment–"That you may
believe on the name of the Son of God."
They already believed on the sacred name, yet it remained a part of
John's design to confirm them in that faith and conduct them to higher
degrees of it. May the Holy Spirit make our meditation profitable!
I. First, then, briefly, TO WHOM WAS THIS WRITTEN? It is important to
observe the direction of a letter, for I may be reading a communication
meant for somebody else. And if it should contain good tidings, I may
be deceiving myself by appropriating the news. This Epistle, and this
particular text in it, were written for all those who believe on the
name of the Son of God. In part of the Epistle, John says, "I write
unto you, little children." Then he says, "I write unto you, young
men." Further on he says, "I have written unto you, fathers." But now
he writes to babes, to young men and
to fathers under the one comprehensive description of those who have
believed on the name of the Son of God! Our discourse is, therefore,
for all of you who are believers in Christ.
Little child, you who have just begun the spiritual life, we would have
you attain to the confidence that you have eternal life! Young man,
sternly battling with sin, we would have you strengthened for your
conflict by knowing that you have eternal life! And you fathers, let us
hope you have not come so far without this knowledge, but whether you
have or not, these things are written that you, in your mature years,
may rise to the full conviction that the life of God is strong within
you! No person, young or old, is excluded from this text, unless he is
an unbeliever. To unbelievers this text is not written–it is for all
who trust in Jesus–and it is for no one else.
If you enquire why it is not addressed to unbelievers, I answer, simply
because it would be preposterous to wish men to be assured of that
which is not true! John never wished that a man who had not believed in
Jesus Christ should even think that he had eternal life, for it would
be a fatal error. "He that believes not shall not see life." How, then,
could he have an assurance of possessing it? Faith is a necessary
preliminary to assurance–you must have the blade of faith before you
can have the ripe corn of assurance. Dear Friends, do not dream of
being sure that you are saved apart from making sure that you have
trusted yourselves with the crucified Savior! The Atonement presented
by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gives assurance of salvation to all
who trust in it, but to no one else. It would be taking things out of
their due order. It would be doing you real and, perhaps, fatal
mischief if we should lead you to presume that you have eternal life
before you have unreservedly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ! "He
that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him."
I speak, therefore, to all of you who have come to Christ, however
imperfect and undeveloped your spiritual life may as yet be. I invite
no one else to the banquet of joyous confidence! As with a drawn sword
of fire, John's words guard the way like the cherub at the gate of
Paradise. His words, "these things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God," keep back every man who has not
believed in Jesus from even dreaming that he has eternal life. What
have you to do with the rest, the peace and the blessedness of full
assurance unless you have received the appointed Savior into your
heart's trust?
We may gather from this address being made to all the people of God and
to none beside, that there are some Believers in the world, and true
Believers, too, who do not know that they have eternal life. A very
large number of true Believers do not know this cheering fact. For
instance, certain Christians believe that even if they are now saved
they may yet be lost–that even if they have the life of God in them,
that life may die out! Beloved, I pray for you that you may know that
you have eternal life–not a temporary life! The life which the Holy
Spirit imparts to the Believer is not a thing of days, weeks, months,
or years–its dwelling place is in the region of eternity. It is,
practically, a Divine life which God puts into us, whereby we are made
"partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." We were begotten again unto a lively or
living hope in the day of our regeneration!
The new birth from above by the Spirit of God is a birth to an endless
life. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." Our Lord at the
well of Samaria gives us another figure–"Whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." Many imagine that this spring can fail. How much comfort God's
dear children lose by not apprehending the absolute immortality of the
new life I will not venture to say. But this much I will declare–that
to me it is the very crown and glory of the Gospel that if I receive
Jesus into my soul and the Holy Spirit imparts to me the new life, I
have received an everlasting blessing! Has not Jesus said "I give unto
My sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand"?
Again, a large number of Christ's people who may be perfectly sound in
the doctrinal view of the nature of this life do not know that they
possess it at this present moment if they are Believers. I find even
the commentators, when they try to write upon this text, and most of
the preachers who have left us printed sermons upon it, read the text
as if it said, "that you may know that you shall have eternal life."
They speak about the full assurance that we shall one day enter into
Glory. I beg their pardon–the text does not say anything of the kind!
It is, "that you may know that you have eternal life," even here, at
this present hour! The spiritual life which is in the Believer at this
moment is the same life which shall be in him in Heaven! The Grace-life
is the Glory-life in the bud–the same life, only less developed.
We shall not, in the article of death, receive another life than that
which we have while we are sojourning here below. Death sets a seal on
that which is, but it produces nothing. There is to be a very palpable
change worked upon the
body, but as to the spirit, the life of God which is in it now is the
life which will dwell in it throughout eternity. Our believing life is
eternal life. We want children of God who believe in Jesus to feel that
the holy flame which kindles their lamp, today, is the same fire which
will shine forth before the Throne of God forever–they have already
begun to exercise those holy emotions of delight and joy which will be
their Heaven! They already possess, in measure, those perceptions and
faculties which will be theirs in Glory. Let us remember this and know
that, as Believers, we have eternal life.
Yet again, there are some Christians who believe all this and are
perfectly right in theory, but yet they each one cry, "I need to know
that I have eternal life. I need a fuller assurance of salvation than I
have already obtained." That is also our desire for you, for if you
know you have believed in Jesus, you certainly are quickened with
eternal life and ought to know it! But it is only to you that have
believed that the text speaks. If you have not believed in the glorious
name of the Well-Beloved, then come at once and put your trust in Him!
This is the Gospel to every unbeliever–"Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved." For, "He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." An
unbeliever may have an assurance that he will be lost, but he cannot
have an assurance that he is saved, or ever will be!
First, believe on the name of the Son of God, who is manifested to take
away sin. Trust in His glorious Person, in His finished work, in His
accepted Sacrifice, in His prevailing intercession and in His glorious
advent which is yet to be. Look unto Him and be you saved! Rest alone
upon the one foundation which God has laid in Zion and then to you will
the word of this consolation be sent, but not till then!
II. So, secondly, I have now to mention TO WHAT END JOHN HAS WRITTEN.
When he says, "that you may know that you have eternal life," I think
His first meaning is that you may know that everybody who believes in
Jesus Christ has eternal life. This is not a fact about you and a few
others, only, but it is a general Truth of God–every man that believes
on the name of the Son of God has eternal life! We may not doubt this.
It is not a matter of inference and deduction, but a matter of
Revelation from God. You are not to form an opinion upon it, but to
believe it, for the Lord has said it. Listen to these words in 1 John
5:1–"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Thus
says the Spirit of God and so it must be!
We do not need any further evidence. If we receive the witness of men,
the witness of God is greater. The Spirit of God bears witness to this
and as the Spirit is Truth, His witness is certainly true! Accept His
witness and ask for no other. It is written (1 John 5:12), "He that has
the Son has life; and He that has not the Son of God has not life."
This is the unvarying testimony of the whole of Scripture–and
especially of the writings of the Apostle John. How many times over he
insists upon it that the Believer has eternal life! I beseech you,
never question the statement! Settle it in your mind, for if you have
any doubt about it, you have undermined the Gospel and rejected the
witness of the Lord–and denied the Holy Spirit! You will not behave
thus wickedly; therefore glorify God by believing His testimony.
I think that John, in this passage meant, and we will consider him as
meaning it, something more–namely, He would have us know that we
personally have eternal life by having us know that we do personally
believe in Jesus. It is one thing to know that every Believer has
eternal life, but it is quite another thing to know that I am a
Believer so as to have eternal life myself. I have read of one who fell
into the water and, as he was sinking, he saw a rainbow in the sky
above him. "Ah," he thought, "God has made a covenant not to destroy
the earth with a flood, and yet it is no comfort to me, for I fear I
shall be drowned." The largest provisions of Grace avail us nothing
unless we have a personal interest in them! It is true that every
Believer has eternal life, but what if I am not a Believer?
It is a very amazing thing that people should not know whether they
believe in Jesus or not–for it is an ascertain-able piece of
knowledge. I know whether I think. I know whether I resolve. I know
whether I doubt. I ought, therefore, to know whether I believe! But you
see, human nature received a terrible twist at the Fall, and it has
fallen into a very foggy region so that the eyes of the understanding
are all squinted and the air around is very dank. Perhaps you ask me to
speak for myself and I assure you that I do–but at the same time I do
not hesitate to say the same of you! You, my clever friend, who are so
wonderfully clear-headed, I should not wonder but what you are the
foggiest and blindest of the whole company! The worst darkness is that
which so blinds a man that he thinks he can see better than other
people. We are all, by nature, in such a mixed-up state that we need
not wonder at any strange statement or feeling!
When you hear Brethren assert that a person who is not assured that he
believes must necessarily be an unbeliever, you may say to yourself,
"That friend does not know everything." There is no estimating the
possible inconsistency and contradiction of the human mind. I have been
in a state of mind in which I have questioned the possibility of there
being
a grain of Grace in me and yet, I have clung to Jesus with a death
grip! At such times my mind has worked morbidly and its way has been
turned upside down. Bunyan speaks of being, "much tumbled up and down
in his thoughts," and that nearly hits my mental condition. It is very
possible for a man to be a very strong Believer and yet to question
whether he has a spark of faith! I have heard ministers ridicule this
state of inward questioning and, indeed, it is ridiculous to all but
those who are in it!
If you once become a sufferer under this wretched complaint, the
absurdity of your disease will not lessen its painful-ness. Our mental
distresses need not be logical–they can be full of anguish and yet be
most unreasonable. You probably know some people who are excessively
nervous–they are afraid the skies will fall or the earth will crack.
This is very stupid, but the agony caused, thereby, is very real! There
is little of the Christian spirit in the man who can increase mental
torment by turning it into jest. This is not to pour oil into the
wound, but to rub salt into it. No doubt, the doubts which many have of
their personal safety are very unreasonable, but a servant of God is
not, therefore, to scorn the subject of them, for the Lord Jesus Christ
had compassion on the ignorant. He did not break the bruised reed, nor
quench the smoking flax–nor must we!
I am personally taught to be tender of poor doubters, for I have often
been one myself. I would sometimes give all that I have to be able to
feel myself to be even the least in the Lord's family. Just now I enjoy
a full assurance, but I am not always on the mountain and, therefore, I
have a heart for others because I am, myself, compassed with infirmity.
We may not judge harshly, as if things were as we would theoretically
arrange them, but we must deal with things as they are– and it cannot
be questioned that some of the best Believers are, at times, sorely put
to it to know whether they are Believers at all! The prayer of John is
that such people, yes, and all Believers, may know for sure–beyond all
doubt–that they have eternal life.
So far is human nature out of joint that it is necessary for me to say
what it seems superfluous to say–that full assurance of our possessing
eternal life is possible. The Church of Rome teaches that no man can be
assured that he has eternal life, except some few to whom supernatural
revelations may be given. That sort of doctrine lingers in the air of
Protestantism–many people think the same though they do not say so.
Impossible to know that you are quickened? It ought to be impossible to
have any doubt about it! Rationally, a living man should know that he
is alive. No man should give sleep to his eyes or slumber to his
eyelids while he has a doubt about his eternal state. It is possible
and, if it is possible, it is very desirable–for when a man knows that
he has eternal life, what a comfort it is to him!
What gratitude it produces in his spirit! How it helps him to live
above the world! With what holy ardor does he pursue the service of
God, knowing that he has an eternal reward! He has not to waste time in
calculating evidences and perpetually examining himself, for he has
examined himself and he has cast himself upon Christ–and he knows that
he has eternal life. With what rapidity does he make progress, for he
leaves the first principles and goes on towards perfection! No longer
questioning, he shows holy daring and goes from strength to strength in
rapturous fellowship and ecstatic enjoyment! He advances from glory to
glory, his faith proving to him, even while he is here below, the joys
which are laid up for the redeemed! I say again, if full assurance is
possible, it is eminently desirable.
And I go a little further–it is our duty to obtain full assurance. We
would not have been commanded to give diligence to make our calling and
election sure if it were not right for us to be sure! I am sure it is
right for a child of God to know that God is his Father and never to
have a question in his heart as to his sonship. I know it is right for
a soul that is married to Christ to know the sweet love of the
Bridegroom and never to tolerate a cloud of suspicion to come between
the soul and the full enjoyment of Christ's love. Therefore, I would
urge you onward to know that you have eternal life.
My Brothers and Sisters, John, being dead, yet speaks out of this
Book–he calls upon you to know that the Son of God is come and has
given us an understanding that we may know Him, who is true–and that
we are in Him who is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. He bids us,
as Believers, firmly repose our souls upon the promise of our faithful
God. I sorrowfully remind certain of you that, as you have not
believed, you have neither part nor lot in this matter–and the Beloved
disciple does not speak to you.
III. Thirdly, I come to where I would lay the stress of the discourse
this morning–WHAT HAS JOHN SAID IN THIS EPISTLE WHICH LEADS US TO BE
SURE OF OUR FULL ASSURANCE? How does he help us to know that we are
Believers and, consequently, to know that we have eternal life? I
cannot attempt a full summary of this most blessed Epistle, but I shall
select a few items from very many. An exposition of this Epistle,
written to show how it enables men to know that they have eternal life,
would be a very valuable thing, and I feel confident that without the
slight-
est forcing of a single sentence it could be shown that the whole
letter bears upon assurance. The wish of the Apostle that all Believers
might know that they have eternal life is the silken thread upon which
his pearls are strung.
Now Believers ought to know that they have eternal life and they ought
never to doubt it, for God's own Word assures them that it is so.
Remember that Word of the Lord Jesus in John 6:47–"Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that believes on Me has everlasting life"? Will you
doubt the Lord's, "Verily, verily"? Christ's Word unsupported by any
external evidence is quite enough to satisfy every gracious mind. "Let
God be true, but every man a liar"–yes, let every circumstance be a
liar! Everything that we have looked upon as evidence should be
regarded as a lie if it denies the declaration of the Lord! Out of this
simple faith in God, assurance comes naturally by the operation of the
Spirit of God upon the heart. Take pure and unadulterated milk and let
it stand, and you will soon get cream. Faith is the milk and full
assurance is the cream upon it–and when faith has stood long enough,
you may see the rich cream of holy confidence upon the top of it! The
witness of God is true and, therefore, to be believed, yes, to be
believed with full assurance!
According to all right principles, assurance should increase by the
lapse of time during which faith occupies itself upon the same promise.
I have trusted my soul to Christ, therefore I have eternal life. How do
I know? I know because the Spirit of God has so declared it in the Word
of God! Thus has He spoken–"He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life." I believe in the Son and, therefore, I have eternal
life! Do friends assure me that they see the life in me? I am very much
obliged to them, but I do not need their evidence. "He that believes
has the witness in himself." When the Holy Spirit has made a statement,
it is something like impertinence either to ask or to offer any further
evidence upon the point. Therefore, that matter is not my subject. I
take it we must not offer you any other argument to prove the eternal
life of Believers beyond this–God has said it.
The matter which may be argued about is this–"Do I believe in Jesus?
Am I a Believer in such a sense that I have eternal life?" Let us look
at the Epistle for help in this enquiry. You will find, first, that
John mentions as an evidence, truthful dealing with God in faith and
confession of sin. Naturally men walk in darkness or falsehood towards
God, but when we have believed in Jesus, we come to walk in the light
of the Truth of God. Read in the first chapter of the Epistle from
verse 6 to nine. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
The Believer does not attempt to deal with God as if he had no sin, for
that were to make Christ useless, seeing there would be no need of His
blood to cleanse. He does not say that he now lives without sin, for
that were to make his cleansing a thing of the past, whereas the Spirit
teaches that it is a present matter, concerning our present walk with
God. To claim to live without sin is to walk in the dark, for the claim
is a false one. The man who walks in the light comes before God as a
sinner, whom the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin.
So, then, you may take this as an evidence that you are a saved man, if
you deal truthfully with God–if you confess your guilt before God, if
your only hope of being cleansed from it lies in the blood of Jesus
Christ–then you have come to act towards God on the line of truth and
He accepts you.
You that are not a believer in Christ may try to forget that you have
any sin, or, by forms and ceremonies, offer some kind of palliation of
your sin, but when you are brought into the honest light you will make
a clean breast of it and cease to act a borrowed part. Your cry will
be, "Search me, O God, and try me," and your appeal will be to the
boundless mercy of God in Christ Jesus! You can be sure that you are a
child of God when sin is confessed and faith is looking to Jesus for
the removal of it. "Father, I have sinned," is the cry of a true-born
child. "God be merciful to me, a sinner," is the prayer of the man who
goes down to his house justified. We can repeat with rapture the words
of Paul to the Romans, "Being justified freely by His Grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God has set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God."
Next, John gives us obedience as a test of the child of God. Look to
the second chapter and begin to read at the third verse–"And hereby we
know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that says, I
know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is
not in him. But whoever keeps His word, in him verily is the love of
God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that says he
abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." Come,
then, Beloved Brothers and Sisters, do you obey the will of the Lord
from your heart? Is holiness the aim
and objective of your life? Do you strive to do as Jesus bids you? Do
you set your clock by the heavenly sun? Do you try to order your ways
and your steps according to the Law of the Lord? Do you delight
yourself, also, in the Law of God after the inner man? Do you press
forward after perfect holiness? Then His servant you are whom you obey!
Rest assured beyond all question that you are one of Christ's sheep,
for He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me." "He that does righteousness is righteous." If Grace has made you
obedient, it has given you eternal life!
Follow me as I call attention, next, to the evidence of love in the
heart. In the second chapter read at the 9th verse– "He that says he
is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now.
He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no occasion
of stumbling in him." Then go on to the 14th verse of the third
chapter. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death." This
will greatly help you to decide your case. Do you hate anybody? Are you
seeking revenge? Are you unforgiving? Then you are not dwelling in the
Light of God–you are of Cain and not of Christ! Do you feel that you
love your enemies and that, in fact, you are no man's enemy because
love is the principle of your life? "Love is of God; and everyone that
loves is born of God, and knows God."
We must feel a general benevolence towards all men and a still more
intense love and complacency towards all who are in Christ. This love
must be practical and lead us to help and succor our Brethren. Have you
this love? Do you feel a delight in the company of the Brethren because
they belong to Christ, however poor or illiterate they may be? You
would not feel love reigning in your spirit if true faith had not come
to dwell there! A loving spirit evidenced by a loving life is a true
sign that you belong to God, whose name is Love. Be of good courage and
enter into full assurance, O you whose bosoms glow with the sacred
flame of fervent love to God and men!
Next to that comes separation from the world. Read in the second
chapter at the 15th verse–"Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is
not in him." This is backed up by the first verse of the third
chapter–"Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not."
Have you met with opposition from the ungodly? Have you discovered that
Ishmael still mocks Isaac? Do you find, when you go out to work, that
your shop mates who used to drink with you are inclined to avoid you?
Are you pointed at as a hypocrite because you are a Christian? Then
there is a difference between you and others and the world can see it!
The serpent's seed will hiss at the seed of the woman–God has put an
enmity between the two. Do not, therefore, be surprised at it. Did not
our Lord say, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before
it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own:
but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you"? Thus slander, abuse, and other
forms of persecution may turn to your comfort by showing that you are
of that sect which is everywhere spoken against!
Next to that, in the second chapter, we have the evidence of
continuance in the faith. "And the world passes away, and the lust
thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever. Little
children, it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that
it the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but
they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all
of us." The longer a Christian man is enabled to persevere in holiness,
the more confident may he become that his religion is the work of the
Spirit of God in his soul. "He that endures to the end shall be saved."
Perseverance in holiness is a sure mark of election. It is the
righteous who hold on their way. Mere pretenders are as wandering stars
and fading flowers. That which comes and goes is not of God–the Holy
Spirit abides permanently in true Believers.
The next evidence you will find in the third chapter, the third verse,
namely, purification. "Every man that has this hope in Him purifies
himself, even as He is pure." Do you every day endeavor to keep clear
of sin and, when you have sinned, do you at night go with bitter
repentance to God and beg to be delivered from it? Are you fighting
against your besetting sins? Do you contend against the customs of the
world? Have you come to be a warrior against evil? Let that be an
evidence that there is in you a new spirit which was not there by
nature! And let that prove to you that you are quickened into newness
of life–conflict and victory are evidences of Grace. "By this we know
that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is
born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes
the world, even our faith."
Again, in the 21st verse of the third chapter, we meet with another
blessed evidence, and that is a clear conscience– "If our heart
condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God." They say of us
that we seek ourselves, or that we are hypocrites. But if we can lay
our hand upon our heart and say, "Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You," we have the best grounds for full assurance. A
conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God is one of the
seals of the Holy Spirit upon that epistle which He has written in our
hearts! This Divine witness is a privilege which none possess but the
regenerate! Prove yourself clear in the court of conscience that you
may know that you have eternal life. Furthermore, we find an evidence
in answers to prayer–"And whatever we ask, we receive of Him, because
we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight." Does God hear your prayers? Then you are pleasing in His sight!
Are you in the habit of speaking with Him and does He reply to you?
Then you are agreed with God! Does He grant you the desire of your
heart? Is it not because you delight in Him? He hears not those who
willfully live in sin, but if any man does His will, him He hears. You
may look upon every answered prayer as another token of the love of God
toward you in Christ Jesus your Lord.
Adherence to the Truth of God is another help to full assurance. Read
the whole fourth chapter–"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world." In the sixth verse he says, "We are of God:
he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears us not." I read
in a certain learned divine, the other day, a declaration that the
evangelical doctrine which we preach is not Christianity, but
Paulinism. By that utterance this divine condemned himself! John says,
"We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears
us not. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
He who hears not the Apostles, hears not their Master! He who dares say
that Paul has not given us the Gospel is not of Christ, for Jesus says,
"He that receives you, receives Me, and he that receives Me receives
Him that sent Me."
The testimony of the Holy Spirit by Apostolic lips is as sure as the
testimony by the Son of God Himself! And it is flat rebellion against
the Holy Spirit to graduate His utterances, whether they be through
Prophets, Apostles, or the Christ, Himself. He who makes this to be
true and that to be false, or this true and that truer, still, has
disparaged the Spirit of God who speaks as He pleases, but is always
Infallible! He that questions what the Spirit says has not the Spirit
of Christ dwelling in him. If you have taken Scripture to be your guide
and hold fast by the Truth of God, you are one of Christ's sheep, of
whom He says, "A stranger will they not follow, for they know not the
voice of strangers." Against the detestable spirit of this age and
against everything else that would corrupt the Gospel of Christ, it is
the mark of the true seed to stand opposed! If you bear witness to the
Truth of God, the Truth bears witness to you! Blessed are those who are
not removed from the hope of their calling.
One of the best evidences of true faith, and one of the best helps to
full assurance, is a holy familiarity with God. Read in the fourth
chapter, the 16th verse–"And we have known and believed the love that
God has to us. God is Love and he that dwells in love dwells in God,
and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this
world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear:
because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. We
love Him, because He first loved us." Oh, Beloved Brothers and Sisters,
if you have come to speak with God as a man speaks with a man. If you
dwell in Him. If every day you say more to God than you do to men and
if you find more joy in fellowship with God than you do in all the
world beside, then you are one of His!
God never made a man to know Him and love Him, and then cast him away!
Eternal life is surely in you if you have entered into the secret place
of the tabernacles of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. When you have no longer that slavish fear which makes you
stand back, but that child-like confidence which draws you nearer and
yet nearer unto God, then are you His child! The spirit of adoption is
one point of sure witness from the Spirit of God. He who can call God
his exceeding joy is among the living in Zion.
IV. I would now finish, only I dare not leave out the last point–THE
APPENDIX TO JOHN'S DESIGN. The Apostle puts it, "That you may believe
on the name of the Son of God." I think he means this–you are never to
get into such a state that you say, "I have eternal life and,
therefore, I need not trust simply in the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. Years ago I was born again, and so I can now live without
the daily exercise of faith." "No," says the Apostle, "I am writing
this to Believers, and I tell them that while they may have full
assurance, it cannot be a substitute for habitual faith in the Lord
Jesus."
Personally, I wish to say–it is some 34 years since I first believed
in the Christ Jesus and I came to Him, then, as having nothing in
myself, and I took Him to be my All-in-All. At this moment I possess a
comfortable and clear assurance that I have eternal life, but my ground
of confidence, today, is exactly what it was when first I came to
Christ. I have no confidence in my confidence, I place no reliance upon
my own assurance. My assurance lies in the fact that "Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners" and, that, "Whoever believes in Him has
everlasting life." I believe in Him and, therefore, I know I have
eternal life.
Brothers and Sisters, do not stir beyond that–keep to your first
faith. However far you go in other directions, stand fast in your
undivided faith in Jesus. If you think it wise to examine these signs
and evidences which I have given you, do so. But if you think to get
food out of them, you will find a bare cupboard. If you think you can
live without Christ, on what you have known in the past, you are
greatly mistaken! It is like trying to live on stale manna. None of you
would have done that in the wilderness–you would have soon turned up
your noses at it. When it was more than a day old it, "bred worms and
stank." Everything you look to, apart from Christ, will rot in due
time, so that you will loathe it.
Beloved, every vessel, whether it is a great flagon or a little cup,
must hang upon the one nail which is fastened in a sure place. If you
get away from Jesus, you wander into a land of darkness and of the
shadow of death. Whether I am a child of God or not is a question I
will not discuss today. I am a sinner and Jesus Christ came to save
sinners–and they that trust in Him are saved. Therefore I trust Him!
Therefore I am saved! The Word of God declares it. Blessed be His name
forever and ever! Amen.