“AND BY THIS we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. . . . By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given of us his own Spirit” (1 John 3:24; 4:13). This emphasizes the method of knowing that we are in Him and He in us—we know by the Spirit which He has given us. We may have questions about the sufficiency and reality of our believing and loving. The Holy Spirit gives assurance. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit” (Rom. 8:16)—not [bears] witness to, but with our spirit. We say, “Yes, I do believe and love,” and the Spirit says, “Yes, you do believe and love.” Then there is the double witness and the double assurance—God and man witness to the same fact. Then we are sure we are sure and certain we are certain.
A young minister was troubled. He had been brought up to believe that you must experience what you preach. Then he took a course that emphasized that we are to preach the Word, and the Word is bigger than the bearer. He then would have the assurance of the Word whether or not he had any assurance of the Spirit. He could preach the Word though he himself was full of conflicts. This gave him comfort, but not assurance. The assurance comes through the Spirit. He was preaching a Holy Spirit-less Christianity. It was the Word become Word, but not the Word become flesh. Therefore, less than the Christian belief and less than the Christian gospel.
Had the disciples after Pentecost gone across that uncertain world preaching the witness of the Word, but not the witness of the Spirit, they would have been uncertain men preaching to uncertain men about an uncertain gospel. But they could say: “This is that”—this which we experience is that which is written in the Word. Without the witness of the Spirit they would have had to say, “That is that,” not “this is that.”
O Holy Spirit, we thank Thee that Thy assurance assures us with a divine assurance. Our questionings drop away and we stand in wonder, love, and praise. We thank Thee for the witness of the Word, we thank Thee for the witness of the Spirit. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The Spirit cannot witness through me unless He witnesses to me.
