1 John 5:13
“These 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.”
John wrote to believers-"These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God."
It is worthy of note that all the epistles are so
written. They are not letters to everybody, they are
letters to those who are called to be saints. It ought
to strike some of you with awe when you open the Bible
and think how large a part of it is not directed at
you. You may read it, and God's Holy Spirit may
graciously bless it to you, but it is not directed to
you. You are reading another man's letter: thank God
that you are permitted to read it, but long to be
numbered with those to whom it is directed. Thank God
much more if any part of it should be used of the Holy
Ghost for your salvation. The fact that the Holy Spirit
speaks to the churches and to believers in Christ
should make you bow the knee and cry to God to put you
among the children, that this Book may become your Book
from beginning to end, that you may read its precious
promises as made to you. This solemn thought may not
have struck some of you: let it impress you now.
We do not wonder that certain men do not receive the
epistles, for they were not written to them. Why should
they cavil at words which are addressed to men of
another sort from themselves? Yet we do not marvel, for
we knew it would be so. Here is a will, and you begin
to read it; but you do not find it interesting: it is
full of words and terms which you do not take the
trouble to understand, because they have no relation to
yourself; but should you, in reading that will, come
upon a clause in which an estate is left to you, I
warrant you that the nature of the whole document will
seem changed to you. You will be anxious now to
understand the terms, and to make sure of the clauses,
and you will even wish to remember every word of the
clause which refers to yourself. O dear friends, may
you read the Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ as a
testament of love to yourselves, and then you will
prize it beyond all the writings of the sages.
This leads me to make the second remark, that as these
things are written to believers, believers ought
especially to make themselves acquainted with them, and
to search into their meaning and intent. John says,
"These things have I written to you that believe on the
name of the Son of God." Do not, I beseech you, neglect
to read what the Holy Ghost has taken care to write to
you. It is not merely John that writes. John is
inspired of the Lord, and these things are written to
you by the Spirit of God. Give earnest heed to every
single word of what God has sent as his own epistle to
your hearts. Value the Scriptures. Luther said that "he
would not be in paradise, if he might , without the
Word of the Lord; but with the Word he could live in
hell itself." He said at another time that "he would
not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible." The
Scriptures are everything to the Christian-his meat and
his drink. The saint can say, "O how I love thy law!"
If we cannot say so, something is wrong with us. If we
have lost our relish for Holy Scripture, we are out of
condition, and need to pray for spiritual health.
This much is the porch of my sermon, let us now enter
more fully into our subject, noticing, first, that John
wrote with a special purpose; and then going on to
assert, secondly, that this purpose we ought to follow
up.
I. First, JOHN WROTE WITH A SPECIAL PURPOSE. Men do not
write well unless they have some end in writing. To sit
down with paper and ink before you, and so much space
to fill up, will ensure very poor writing. John knew
what he was at. His intent and aim were clear to his
own mind, and he tells us what they were.
According to the text the beloved apostle had one clear
purpose which branched out into three.
To begin with, John wrote that we might enjoy the full
assurance of our salvation. "These 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."
Many who believe on the name of Jesus are not sure that
they have eternal life; they only hope so. Occasionally
they have assurance, but the joy is not abiding. They
are like a minister I have heard of, who said he felt
assured of his salvation, "except when the wind was in
the east." It is a wretched thing to be so subject to
circumstances as many are. What is true when the wind
is in the soft south or the reviving west is equally
true when the wind is neither good for man nor beast.
John would not have our assurance vary with the weather-
glass, nor turn with the vane. He says, "These things
have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have
eternal life." He would have us certain that we are
partakers of the new life, and so know it as to reap
the golden fruit of such knowledge, and be filled with
joy and peace through believing.
I speak affectionately to the weaker ones, who cannot
yet say that they know they have believed. I speak not
to your condemnation, but to your consolation. Full
assurance is not essential to salvation, but it is
essential to satisfaction. May you get-may you get it
at once; at any rate may you never be satisfied to live
without it. You may have full assurance. You may have
it without personal revelations: it is wrought in us by
the Word of God. These things are written that you may
have it; and we may be sure that the means used by the
Spirit are equal to the effect which he desires. Under
the guidance of the Spirit of God, John so wrote as to
attain his end in writing. What, then, has he written
with the design of making us know that we have eternal
life? Go through the whole Epistle, and you will see
that it all presses in that direction; but we shall not
at this present have time to do more than glance
through this chapter.
He begins thus: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God." Do you believe that Jesus is
the anointed of God? Is he so to you? Is he anointed as
your prophet, priest, and king? Have you realized his
anointing so as to put your trust in him? Do you
receive Jesus as appointed of God to be the Mediator,
the Propitiation for sin, the Saviour of men? If so,
you are born of God. "How may I know this?" Brethern,
our evidence is the witness of God himself as here
recorded. We need no other witness. Suppose an angel
were to tell you that you are born of God, would that
be a more sure testimony than the infallible Scripture?
If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born
of God. John has thus positively declared the truth,
that you may know that you have eternal life. Can
anything be more clear than this?
The loving spirit of John leads him to say, "Every one
that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is
begotten of him." Do you love God? Do you love his Only-
begotten Son? You can answer those two questions
surely. I knew a dear Christian woman who would
sometimes say, "I know that I love Jesus; but my fear
is that he does not love me." Her doubt used to make me
smile, for it never could have occurred to me. If I
love him, I know it is because he first loved me. Love
to God in us is always the work of God's love towards
us. Jesus loved us, and gave himself for us, and
therefore we love him in return. Love to Jesus is an
effect which proves the existence of its cause. Do you
love Jesus? Do you feel a delight in him? Is his name
as music to your ear, and honey to your mouth? Do you
love to hear him extolled? Ah, dear friends! I know
that to many of you a sermon full of his dear name is
as a royal banquent; and if there is no Christ in a
discourse, it is empty, and vain, and void to you. Is
it not so? If you do indeed love him that begat and him
that is begotten of him, then this is one of the things
that is written "that ye may know that ye have eternal
life."
John goes on to give another evidence: "By this we know
that we love the children of God, when we love God, and
keep his commandments." Do you love God? and do you
love his children? Listen to another word from the same
apostle: "We know that we have passed from death unto
life, because we love the brethren." That may appear to
be a very small evidence; but I can assure you it has
often been a great comfort to my soul. I know I love
the brethern: I can say unto my Lord,
"Is there a lamb among thy flock
I would disdain to feed?"
I would gladly cheer and comfort the least of his
people. Well, then, if I love the brethern, I love the
Elder Brother. If I love the babes, I love the Father;
and I know that I have passed from death unto life.
Brethren, take this evidence home in all its force. It
is conclusive: John has said, "We know that we have
passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren"; and he would not have spoken so positively
if it had not been even so. Brethren, never be content
with sentimental comforts; set your feet firmly upon
the rock of fact and truth. True Christian assurance is
not a matter of guesswork, but of mathematical
precision. It is capable of logical proof, and is no
rhapsody or poetical fiction. We are told by the Holy
Ghost that, if we love the brethren, we have passed
from death to life. You can tell whether you love the
brethren, as such, for their Master's sake, and for the
truth's sake that is in them; and if you can truly say
that you thus love them, then you may know that you
have eternal life.
Our apostle gives us this further evidence: "This is
the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his
commandments are not grievous." Obedience is the grand
test of love. If you are living after your own will,
and pay no homage to God, you are none of his. If you
never think of the Lord Jesus as your Master, and never
recognize the claims of God, and never wish to be
obedient to his will, you are not in possession of
eternal life. If you desire to be obedient, and prove
that desire by your actions, then you have the divine
life within you. Judge yourselves. Is the tenor of your
life obedience or disobedience? By the fruit you can
test the root and the sap.
But note, that this obedience must be cheerful and
willing. No doubt some for a while obey the commands of
God unwillingly. They do not like them, though they bow
to them. They fret and grizzle because of the
restraints of piety; and this proves that they are
hypocrites. What you wish to do you practically are
doing in the sight of God. If there could be such a
thing as holiness forced upon a man, it would be
unholiness. O my hearer, it may be that you cannot fall
into a certain line of sin; but if you could, you
would: your desires show what you really are. I have
heard of Christian people, so called, going to sinful
amusements, just, as they say, to enjoy a little
pleasure. Ah well, we see where you are! Where your
pleasure is, your heart is. If you enjoy the pleasures
of the world, you are of the world, and with the world
you will be condemned. If God's commands are grievous
to you, then you are a rebel at heart. Loyal subjects
delight in the royal law. "His commandments are not
grievous." I said to one who came to join the church
the other day, "I suppose you are not perfect"? and the
reply was, "No, sir, I wish I might be." I said, "And
suppose you were"? "Oh, then," she said, "that would be
heaven to me." So it would be to me. We delight in the
law of God after the inward man. Oh, that we could
perfectly obey in thought, and word, and deed! This is
our view of heaven. Thus we sing of it:
"There shall we see his face,
And never, never sin;
There from the rivers of his grace
Drink endless pleasures in."
We would scarce ask to be rid of sorrow, if we might be
rid of sin. We would bear any burden cheerfully if we
could live without spot we shall also be without grief.
His commandments are not grievous, but they are ways of
pleasantness and peace to us. Do you feel that you love
the ways of God, that you desire holiness, and follow
after it joyfully? Then, dear friends, you have eternal
life, and these are the sure evidences of it.
Obedience, holiness, delight in God never came into a
human heart except from a heavenly hand. Wherever they
are found they prove that the Lord has implanted
eternal life, for they are much too precious to be
buried away in a dead soul.
John then proceeds to mention three witnesses. Now,
dear hearers, do you know anything about these three
witnesses? "There are three that bear witness in earth,
the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these
three agree in one." Do you know "the Spirit" ? Has the
Spirit of God quickened you, changed you, illuminated
you, sanctified you? Does the Spirit of God dwell in
you? Do you feel his sacred impulses? Is he the essence
of the new life within you? Do you know him as clothing
you with his light and power? If so, you are alive unto
God. Next, do you know "the water," the purifying power
of the death of Christ? Does the crucified Lord crucify
your sins? Is the water applied to you to remove the
power of sin? Do you now long to perfect holiness in
the fear of God? This proves that you have eternal
life. Do you also know "the blood"? This is a wretched
age, in which men think little of the precious blood.
My heart has well-nigh been broken, and my very flesh
has been enfeebled, as I have thought upon the horrible
things which have been spoken of late about the
precious blood by men called Christian ministers. "O my
soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their
assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." Beloved
friends, do you know the power of the blood to take
away sin, the power of the blood to speak peace to the
conscience, the power of the blood to give access to
the throne of grace? Do you know the quickening,
restoring, cheering power of the precious blood of
Christ which is set forth in the Lord's Supper by the
fruit of the vine? Then in the mouth of these three
witnesses shall the fact of your having eternal life be
fully established. If the Spirit of God be in you, he
is the earnest of your eternal inheritance. If the
water has washed you, then you are the Lord's. Jesus
said to Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part
in me." But ye are washed, and therefore the Lord's. If
the precious blood has cleansed you from the guilt of
sin, you know that it has also purchased you from
death, and it is to you the guarantee of eternal life.
I pray that you may from this moment enjoy the combined
light of these three lamps of God-"the spirit, and the
water, and the blood," and so have full assurance of
faith.
One thing more I would notice. Read the ninth verse:
the apostle puts our faith and assurance on the ground
that we receive "the witness of God." If I believe that
I am saved because of this, that, and the other, I may
be mistaken: the only sure ground is "the witness of
God." The inmost heart of Christian faith is that we
take God as his word; and we must accept that word, not
because of the probabilities of its statements, nor
because of the confirmatory evidence of science and
philosophy, but simply and alone because the Lord has
spoken it. Many professing Christians fall sadly short
of this point. They dare to judge the Word instead of
bowing before it. They do not sit at the Master's feet,
but become doctors themselves. I thank God that I
believe everything that God has spoken, whether I am
able to see its reason or not. To me the fact that the
mouth of God hath spoken it stands in the place of all
argument, either for or against. If Jehovah says so, so
it is. Do you accept the witness of God? If not, you
have made him a liar, and the truth is not in you; but
if you have received "the witnesses of God," then this
is his witness, that "He hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son." I say again, if your
faith stands in the wisdom of men, and is based upon
the cleverness of a preacher, it will fail you; but if
it stands on the sure Word of the Lord it will stand
for ever, and this may be to you a special token that
you have eternal life. I have said enough upon this
subject; oh that God may bless it to you! May we be
enabled, from what John has written, to gather beyond
doubt that we have the life of God within our souls.
Furthermore, John wrote that we might know our
spiritual life to be eternal. Please notice this, for
there are some of God's children who have not yet
learned this cheering lesson. The life of God in the
soul is not transient, but abiding; not temporary but
eternal. Some think that the life of God in the
believer's soul may die out; but how, then, could it be
eternal? If it die it is not eternal life. If it be
eternal life it cannot die. I know that modern
deceivers deny that eternal means eternal, but you and
I have not learned their way of pumping the meanings
out of the words which the Holy Spirit uses. We believe
that "eternal" means endless, and that if I have
eternal life, I shall live eternally, Brethren, the
Lord would have us know that we have eternal life.
Learn, then, the doctrine of the eternality of life
given in the new birth. It must be eternal life,
because it is "the life of God." We are born again of
the Spirit of God by a living and incorruptible seed,
which liveth and abideth for ever. We are said to be
"made partakers of the divine nature." Surely, this
means, among other things, that we receive an undying
life; for immortality is of the essence of the Life of
God. His name is "I am that I am." He hath life in
himself, and the Son hath life in himself, and of this
life we are the receivers. This was his purpose
concerning his Son, that he might give eternal life to
as many as the Father had given him. If it be the life
of God which is in a believer-and certainly it is, for
he hath begotten us again-then that life must be
eternal. As children of God, we partake of his life,
and as heirs of God, we inherit his eternity. "This is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ calls the life of his
people eternal life. How often do I quote this text! It
seems to lie on the tip of my tongue: "I give unto my
sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." And
again, "He that believeth in him hath everlasting
life." It is not temporary life, not life which at a
certain period must grow old and die, but everlasting
life. "It shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life." This is the life of Christ
within the soul. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God." "I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me." "When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."
If our life is Christ's life, we shall not die until
Christ dies. If our life is hidden in him, it will
never be discovered and destroyed until Christ himself
is destroyed. Let us rest in this.
Mark again how our Lord has put it: "Because I live, ye
shall live also." As long, then, as Jesus lives, his
people must live, for the argument will always be the
same, "Because I live, ye shall live also." We are so
one with Christ that while the head lives the members
cannot die. We are so one Christ that the challenge is
given, "Who shall separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" A list is added of
things which may be supposed to separate, but we are
told that they cannot do so, for "in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Is it not clear, then, that we are quickened with a
life so heavenly and divine that we can never die? John
tells us in this very chapter, "We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not." He does not go back to his
old sin, he does not again come under the dominion of
sin; but, "he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
and that wicked one toucheth him not."
Beloved, I entreat you to keep a hard and firm grip of
this blessed doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints. How earnestly do I long "that ye may know that
ye have eternal life"! Away with your doctrine of being
alive in Christ to-day and dead tomorrow. Poor,
miserable doctrine that! Hold fast to eternal salvation
through the eternal covenant carried out by eternal
love unto eternal life; for the Spirit of God has
written these things unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have
eternal life.
Once more, according to the Authorized text, though not
according to the Revised Version, John desired the
increase and confirmation of their faith. He says,
"That ye might believe on the name of the Son of God."
John wrote to those who believed, that they might
believe in a more emphatic sense. As our Saviour has
come not only that we may have life, but that we may
have it more abundantly, so does John write, that
having faith we may have more of it. Come beloved,
listen for a moment to this! You have the milk of
faith, but God wills that you should have this cream of
assurance! He would increase your faith. May you
believe more extensively. Perhaps you do not believe
all the truth, because you have not yet perceived it.
There were members of the Corinthian church who had not
believed in the resurrection of the dead, and there
were Galatians who were very cloudy upon justification
by faith. Many a Christian man is narrow in the range
of his faith from ignorance of the Lord's mind. Like
certain tribes of Israel, they have conquered a scanty
territory as yet, though all the land is theirs from
Dan to Beersheba. John would have us push out our
fences, and increase the enclosure of our faith. Let us
believe all that God has revealed, for every truth is
precious and practically useful. Perhaps your doctrinal
belief has been poor and thin. Oh that the Lord would
turn the water into wine! Many of you live upon milk,
and yet your years qualify you to feed on meat. Why
keep the babes' diet? You that believe are exhorted to
"go in and out, and find pasture"; range throughout the
whole revelation of God.
It will be well for you if your faith also increases
intensively. Oh that you may more fully believe what
you do believe! We need deeper insight and firmer
conviction. We do not half believe, as yet, any of us.
Many of you only skim the pools of truth. Blessed is
the wing which brushes the surface of the river of
life; but infinitely more blessed is it to plunge into
the depths of it. This is John's desire for you, that
you would believe with all you heart, and soul, and
strength.
He would have you believe more constantly, so that you
may say, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
I will sing and give praise." It is not always so with
us. We are at times chicken-hearted. We play the man
today, and the mouse tomorrow. Lord have mercy upon us:
we are an inconsistent people, fickle as the wind. The
Lord would have us abide always in him with strong and
mighty confidence, being rooted and built up in him.
He would have us trust courageously. Some can believe
in a small way about small things. Oh for a boundless
trust in the infinite God! We need more of a
venturesome faith: the faith to do and dare. Often we
see the way of power, but have not the faith which
would be equal to it. See Peter walking on the sea! I
do not advise any of you to try it, neither did our
Lord advise Peter to do so: we do well enough if we
walk uprightly on land. But when Peter had once taken a
few steps on the sea, he ought to have known that his
Lord could help him all the rest of the way; but alas!
His faith failed, and he began to sink. He could have
walked all the way to Jesus if he had believed right
on. So is it with us: our faith is good enough for a
spurt, but it lacks staying power. Oh, may God give us
to believe, so that we may not only trip over a wave or
two, but walk on the water to the end! If the Lord bids
you, you may go through fire and not be burned, through
the floods and not be drowned. Such a fearless,
careless, conquering faith may the Lord work in us!
We need also to have our faith increased in the sense
of its becoming more practical. Some people have a fine
new faith, as pretty as the bright poker in the
parlour, and as useless. We want an everyday faith, not
to look at, but to use. Brothers and sisters, we need
faith for the kitchen and the pantry, as well as for
the drawing-room and the conservatory. We need workshop
faith, as well as prayer-meeting faith. We need faith
as to the common things of life, and the trying things
of death. We could do with less paint if we had more
power. We need less varnish and more verity. God give
to you that you may believe on the name of the Son of
God with a sound, common-sense faith, which will be
found wearable, and washable, and workable throughout
life.
We need to believe more joyfully. Oh what a blessed
thing it is when you reach the rest and joy of faith!
If we would truly believe the promise of God, and rest
in the Lord's certain fulfillment of it, we might be as
happy as the angels. I notice how very early in the
morning how the birds begin to sing: before the sun is
up or even the first grey tints of morning light are
visible, the little songsters are awake and singing.
Too often we refuse to sing until the sun is more than
up, and noon is near. Shame on us! Will we never trust
our God? Will we never praise him for favours to come?
Oh for a faith that can sing through the night and
through the winter! Faith that can live on a promise is
the faith of God's elect. You will never enjoy heaven
below until you believe without wavering. The Lord give
you such faith.
II. Thus I have gone through my first head, and taken
nearly all the time. I must now come to push of pike,
as the old soldiers used to say. We must drive our
teaching home. THE PURPOSE WHICH JOHN HAD IN HIS MIND
WE OUGHT TO FOLLOW UP. If he wished us to know that we
have eternal life, brothers and sisters, let us try to
know it. The Word of God was written for this purpose;
let us use it for its proper end. The whole of these
Scriptures were written that "we might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, and that believing we might have
life through his name." This Book is written to you who
believe, that you may know that you believe. Will you
suffer your Bibles to be a failure to you? Will you
live in perpetual questioning and doubt? If so, the
Book has missed its mark for you. The Bible is sent
that you may have full assurance of of your possession
of eternal life; do not, therefore, dream that it will
be presumptuous on your part to aspire to it. Our
conscience tells us that we ought to seek full
assurance of salvation. It cannot be right for us to be
children of God, and not to know our own Father. How
can we kneel down and say, "Our Father which art in
heaven," when we do not know whether he is our Father
or not? Will not a life of doubt tend to be a life of
falsehood? May we not be using language which is not
true to our consciousness? Can you sing joyful hymns
which you fear are not true to you? Will you join in
worship when your heart does not know that God is your
God? Until the spirit of adoption enables you to cry,
"Abba, Father," where is your love to God? Can you
rest? Dare you rest, while it is a question whether you
are saved or not? Can you go home to your dinner to-day
and enjoy your meal, while there is a question about
your soul's eternal life? Oh, be not so foolhardy as to
run risks on that matter! I pray you, make sure work
for eternity. If you leave anything in uncertainty, let
it concern your body or your estate, but not your soul.
Conscience bids you seek to know that you have eternal
life, for without this knowledge many duties will be
impossible of performance. Many Scriptures which I
cannot quote this morning stir you up to this duty. Are
you not bidden to make your calling and election sure?
Are you not a thousand times over exhorted to rejoice
in the Lord, and to give thanks continually? But how
can you rejoice, if the dark suspicion haunts you, that
perhaps, after all, you have not the life of God? You
must get this question settled, or you cannot rest in
the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Come, brothers
and sisters, I beseech you, as you would follow
Scripture, and obey the Lord's precepts, get the
assurance without which you cannot obey them.
Listen, as I close, to this mass of reasons why each
believer should seek to know that he has eternal life.
Here they are. Assurance of your salvation will bring
you "the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding." If you know that you are saved, you can
sit down in poverty, or in sickness, or under slander,
and feel perfectly content. Full assurance is the Koh-i-
noor amongst the jewels wherewith the heavenly
Bridegroom adorns his spouse. Assurance is a mountain
of spices, a land that floweth with milk and honey. To
be the assured possessor of eternal life is to find a
paradise beneath the stars, where the mountains and the
hills break forth before you into singing.
Full assurance will sometimes overflow in cataracts of
delight. Peace flows like a river, and here and there
it leaps in cascades of ecstatic joy. There are seasons
when the plant of peace is in flower, and then it sheds
a perfume as of myrrh and cassia. Oh, the blessedness
of the man who knows that he has eternal life!
Sometimes in our room alone, when we have been enjoying
this assurance, we have laughed outright, for we could
not help it. If anybody had wondered why a man was
laughing by himself alone, we could have explained that
it was nothing ridiculous which had touched us, but our
mouth was filled with laughter because the Lord had
done great things for us, whereof we were glad. That
religion which sets no sweatmeats on the table is a
niggardly housekeeper. I do not wonder that some people
give up their starveling religion: it is hardly worth
the keeping. The child of God who knows that he has
eternal life goes to school, be he has many a holiday;
and he anticipates that day of home-going when he shall
see the face of his Beloved for ever.
Brethren, full assurance will give us the full result
of the gospel. The gospel ought to make us holy; and so
it will when we are in full possession of it. The
gospel ought to make us separate from the world, the
gospel ought to make us lead a heavenly life here
below; and so it will if we drink deep draughts of it;
but it we take only a sip of it now and again, we give
it no chance of working out its design in us. Do not
paddle about the margin of the water of life, but first
wade in up to your knees, and then hasten to plunge
into the waters to swim in. Beware of contentment with
shallow grace. Prove what the grace of God can do for
you by giving yourself up to its power.
Full assurance gives a man a grateful zeal for the God
he loves. These are the people that will go to the
Congo for Jesus, for they know they are his. These are
the people that will lay down their all for Christ, for
Christ is theirs. These are the people that will bear
scorn and shame and misrepresentation for the truth's
sake, for they know that they have eternal life. These
are they that will keep on preaching and teaching,
spending and working, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven, and they know it. Men will do little for what
they doubt, and much for what they believe. If you have
lost your title deeds, and you do not know whether your
house is your own or not, you are not going to spend
much in repairs and enlargements. When you know that
heaven is yours, you are anxious to get ready for it.
Full assurance finds fuel for zeal to feed upon.
This also creates and sustains patience. When we know
that we have eternal life, we do not fret about the
trials of this passing life. I could point to the
brethren here this morning, and I could mention sisters
at home, who amaze me by their endurance of pain and
weakness. This I know concerning them, that they never
have a doubt about their interest in Christ; and for
this cause they are able to surrender themselves into
those dear hands which were pierced for them. They know
that they are the Lord's, and so they say, "Let him do
what seemeth him good." A blind child was in his
father's arms, and a stranger came into the room, and
took him right away from his father. Yet he did not cry
or complain. His father said to him, "Johnny, are you
afraid? You do not know the person who has got hold of
you." "No, father," he said, "I do not know who he is,
but you do." When pain gives us an awkward nip, and we
do not know whether we shall live or die, when we are
called to undergo a dangerous operation, and pass into
unconciousness, then we can say, "I do not know where I
am, but my Father knows, and I leave all with him."
Assurance makes us strong to suffer.
This, dear friends, will give you constant firmness in
your confession of divine truth. You who do not know
whether you are saved or not, I hope the Lord will keep
you from denying the faith; but those who have a firm
grip of it, these are the men who will never forsake
it. A caviller in an omnibus said to a Christian man
one day, "Why, you have nothing after all to rest upon.
I can prove to you that your Scriptures are not
authentic." The humble Christian man replied, "Sir, I
am not a learned man, and I cannot answer you
questions; but I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
I have experienced such a change in character, and I
feel such a joy and peace through believing, that I
wish you knew my Saviour, too." The answer he received
was a very unexpected one: the unbeliever said, "You
have got me there; I cannot answer that." Just so: we
have got them there. If we know what has been wrought
in us by grace, they cannot overcome us. The full-
assurance man baffles the very devil. Satan is cunning
enough, but those who know and are persuaded, are birds
which he cannot take in the snares of hell. When you
know that your Lord is able to keep that which you have
committed to him until that day, then you are firm as a
rock. God make you so.
Dear brethren, this is the kind of thing that will
enable you to bear a telling testimony for your Lord.
It is of no use to stand up and preach things that may
or may not be true. I am charged with being a dreadful
dogmatist, and I am not anxious to excuse myself. When
a man is not quite sure of a thing, he grows very
liberal: anybody can be a liberal with money which he
cannot claim to be his own. The broad-school man says,
"I am not sure, and I do not suppose that you are sure,
for indeed nothing is sure." Does this sandy foundation
suit you? I prefer rock. The things which I have spoken
to you from my youth up have been such as I have tried
and proved, and to me they wear an absolute certainty,
confirmed by my personal experience. I have tried these
things: they have saved me, and I cannot doubt them. I
am a lost man if the gospel I have preached to you be
not true; and I am content to bide the issue of the day
of Judgement. I do not preach doubtingly, for I do not
live doubtingly. I know what I have told you to be
true; why should I speak as if I were not sure? If you
want to make your own testimony tell in such a day as
this, you must have something to say that you are sure
about; and until you are sure about it I would advise
you to hold you tongue. We do not require any more
questionings; the market is overstocked. We need no
more doubt, honest or dishonest; the air is dark with
these horrible blacks.
Brethren, if you know that you have eternal life, you
are prepared to live, and equally prepared to die. How
frequently do I stand at the bedside of our dying
members! I am every now and then saying to myself, "I
shall certainly meet with some faint-hearted one.
Surely I shall come across some child of God who is
dying in the dark." But I have not met with any such.
Brethren, a child of God may die in the dark. One said
to old Mr. Dodd, the quaint old Puritan-"How sad that
our brother should have passed away in the darkness! Do
you doubt his safety?" "No," said old Mr. Dodd, "no
more than I doubt the safety of him who said, when he
was dying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?"" Full assurance, as we have said before, is not of
the essence of salvation. Still, I beg of you to note
this, that all along through these many years, in each
case, when I have gone to visit any of our brethren and
our sisters at death, I have always found them
departing in sure and certain hope of seeing the face
of their Lord in glory. I have often marvelled that
this should be without exception, and I glory in it.
Often have they said to me, "We have fed on such good
food that we may well be strong in the Lord." God grant
that you may have this assurance, all of you! May
sinners begin to believe in Jesus, and saints believe
more firmly, for Christ's sake! Amen.
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