The Assurance of Faith /
ONE The Assurance of Faith Foundation Text— Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. —Heb 10:22
By the assurance of faith is meant a clear and definite knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, of reconciliation with God, and of our relationship with him as our Father.
About these vital matters we must be able to say, "I know."
Not "I hope so," or "I wish so," but firmly and unhesitatingly, "T know."
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, / who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. / They rejoice in your name all day long; / they exult in your righteousness.—Ps 89:15-16
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.—Is 60:16
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.—Jn 14:20
This assurance is necessary for all right living. It ought to be the first step in the Christian life. In the absence of this assurance, lies the secret of much of the failure of Christians.
They present the strange anomaly of children who doubt their
4 / The Open Secret parentage, of heirs who are afraid to take possession of their inheritance, of a bride who is not sure she has been really married.
What could we expect from such doubts in earthly relationships, but indifference, fear, anxiety, unkindness, sorrow, and rebellion?
And are not these the very things that are found far too often in the hearts of God's children, in reference to their relationships to him?
Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.—Dt 28:47-48 No soul can serve the Lord with joyfulness who is in doubt as to the reality or the stability of its relations with him. All human comfort is destroyed in sucha case, as affecting earthly relations; and but little divine comfort is, as we all know, to be found in doubtful spiritual relations.
Can we then suppose for a moment that this too frequent reign of doubt in Christians' hearts was God's plan for his people? Does the Bible teach that it is?
I answer most emphatically, No, a thousand times No!
The Old Testament never contemplated the idea of Israelites, who did not know whether they were Israelites or not.
Every law given to them or promise made, was founded on the previously acknowledged and understood fact, that they didin very truth belong to the family of Israel, and were indeed the people of God.
Before they were allowed to join the Lord's army and fight his battles, they had to "indicate their ancestry."
"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years
The Assurance of Faith / 5 old or more who are able to serve in the army. One man from each tribe, each the head of his family, is to help you. ... and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people indicated their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one.—Nm 1:2-4, 18 And before they could enter into the office of priest they must "search for their family records"; for no strangers were allowed to "approach the sanctuary."
Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.—Nm 3:10
These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.—Ezr 2:62-63
And similarly we, who are God's people now, cannot effectively fight his battles nor enjoy true priestly communion with him, until we also can "indicate our ancestry," know that we are the children of God, and that we are born of him.
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Aba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.—Gal 4:6-7 (Jn 3:1-2) We cannot have the spirit of a son, until we know we are sons. To doubt it, would be to lose the spirit at once.
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.—Rom 8:14-17
6 / The Open Secret Our Lord himself always speaks to his disciples in terms of absolute certainty as to their relations to God.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.—Jn 17:22-23
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. Iam going there to prepare a place for you. And ifI go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
—Jn 14:1-3 (Lk 10:20, 12:32) "If it were not so he would have told us." Surely we may trust him, and accept his statements as facts, without any further questioning.
Nowhere in Acts do we find the apostles or any of the early believers, questioning their standing, or doubting their relationship to the Lord. Peter said concerning their experiences on the day of Pentecost:
This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."—Acts 2:16-18 (Acts 4:9-10, 20)
No one can read the history of the words and deeds of the apostles and the early believers, without seeing that they were saturated through and through with an utter certainty of their salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was as much a part of them, as their nationality as Jews, or their nativity in Israel, and was no more open to question. Let us try to imagine them as being filled with the doubtings and questionings of modern
Christians, and think what effect it would have had upon their preaching and their work. We can see in a moment that it
The Assurance of Faith / 7 would have been fatal to the spread of the gospel, and that a Church founded on doubts and questionings, could have made no headway in an unbelieving world.
This tone of utter assurance runs through all the Epistles.
They are every one addressed to people of whom it was taken for granted that they knew their standing as the reconciled and forgiven children of God; and the writers express the same assurance for themselves, as they do for those to whom they write.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers loved by God, we know that he has chosen you.
—1 Thes 1:1-4 Again, if we run through the Epistles we shall invariably find that they also, like the Gospels and the Acts, are saturated through and through with assurance. Nowhere is a doubt ora question of the believer's standing in the family of God even so much as hinted at or supposed possible.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.—Rom 8:35-39 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
8 / The Open Secret Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.—Eph 1:3-8 (Eph 2:13; 1 Pt 1:3-5; Rom 5:1-2; 1 Cor
3:16-17; 1 Cor 6:19-20; Gal 3:26-27; Eph 1:3-8, 2:13; Col 1:12-14; Col 2:13-14; 1 Jn 2:12-14; 1 Pt 2:9) These are only a few samples of the voice of every Epistle.
Notice the assured expressions " has blessed," "has chosen,"
"we have redemption." Notice also the present tense of possession continually used, "are," "have," "has," "is." Never once is there a "hope so," or "perhaps so," or "I wish it might be so." Unquestioning, rejoicing assurance breathes from every word.
All exhortations to holiness are based on this assured knowledge of our reconciliation with God; and all exhortations to service also.
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.—2 Cor 7:1
We are not to be holy in order to gain the promises, but because we have the promises.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.—Col 3:2-5 (Eph 4:30-32; 1 Jn 3:1-3)
God wants from us the service ofa son, not of a servant only.
A servant works for wages, a son from love. The servant works
The Assurance of Faith / 9 to gain something; the son because all has been given him.
How can we render the son's service, unless we know that we are sons?
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.—Gal 4:7 (Eph 5:1-2)
Since then we have proved thus incontrovertibly that the assurance of faith is the only normal condition of a child of God, our next point must be as to how it is to be arrived at.
We answer that it comes simply by believing God. He says certain things about himself and about us; faith believes them, and assurance follows. Notice that in the scriptures "believing" and "having" are always joined together. "He that believes, has," is the continual declaration!
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.—Jn 6:47
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.—Jn 3:14-18 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."—Jn 6:35 (Jn 1:12; 3:36; 5:24; 11:25-26, 20:30-31)
Notice that it never says, "he that feels, has" but always "he who believes." Our feelings are no guide whatever here. In all matters of fact, it is folly to depend upon feelings; and, in truth, we never do it in our earthly affairs. We never say over a piece of good or bad news, "Do I fée/ it is true," but we confine ourselves simply to the question, " Js it true?"
Who would be so silly as to enter a railroad depot and take
10 / The Open Secret the first train at hand, and then sit down and try to "feel" whether it was the right train or not? We all know that the state of our feelings could not alter the facts; and our sole aim in such cases is always to find out the facts.
In order for assurance of faith then, as to our relations with the Lord, we must not depend upon our feelings, but must simply find out the facts.
God's order, and the order of good common sense as well, is always 1. Fact, 2. Faith, 3. Feeling. But in matters of religion man reverses this order, and says 1. Feeling, 2. Faith, 3. Fact.
And just as in the case of the railway train we would find peace and assurance by asking some one who knew, and by believing his word, so also in the case of our relations with the Lord, we must hear and believe what he says about it, without regard to how we feel.
We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his
Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.—Jn 5:9-11
We receive "man's testimony" continually without a question or doubt; shall we be less ready to receive "God's testimony?" In verse ten notice that it is not he who has this testimony in his heart who shall believe, but he who believes shall have this testimony in his heart.
Here we have, first the fact, second the faith, third the feeling.
What are we to do then in order to get the assurance of faith?
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."—Jn 6:28-29
The Assurance of Faith / 11 We must believe two things. First, what God says concerning Christ. Second, what he says concerning us.
It is not really believing a person if we only believe half he says; and yet many who would consider it the worst of sins to disbelieve God's testimony concerning Christ, consider it no sin at all, but in fact rather virtuous humility, to doubt his testimony concerning themselves. They dare not doubt that Jesus is the Christ, but find no difficulty in doubting whether they are themselves "born of God." And yet God joins the two inseparably together.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.—1 Jn 5:1
Here is a plain and simple statement. "Everyone who believes, is born," not will be, but is, now in the present moment; for no one can believe who is not born of God.
But you may say, how can I know that I believe? Could you write a paper saying, "I do not believe that Jesus is the Christ" and sign it with your name? Would it not bea lie if you should do so? If the alternative were presented to you of denying
Christ or going to prison, would you not choose the prison?
You do believe, therefore, that Jesus is the Christ; and God says that whosoever does, is born of him. Does not this settle the question?
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.—1 Jn 4:15
Could language be plainer than this? If you confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in you, now.
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.—Rom 10:8-9
12 / The Open Secret What should we think ofa child who should doubt whether she was really her mother's own child; who should say, "Well, I have a trembling hope I am, but that is all?" Would not such expressions be equivalent to casting a doubt on the mother's word? And do not our doubts as to whether we are really God's
>"? children " make him a liar?
Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.—1 Jn 5:10-11
The testimony we are to believe is that "God has given us eternal life." If he has given it, we must have it, and there is nothing more to be said about it.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.—1 Jn 5:13
We have eternal life if we believe; but we may not "know" that we have it, and our peace depends upon our knowing it.
Aman may have a fortune left to him by a friend, but until he "knows it," he cannot enjoy it.
The assurance of faith, therefore, is simply t the "knowing" of which John speaks. And it arises from our belief in the trustworthy testimony, not of our feelings, but of God's word.
Jesus did many other pert ip signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
—Jn 20:30-31 Not what we feel, but what is on the record; not what are our experiences, but what has been "written"; this is the foundation for the assurance of faith.
We all of us know the curious experience of being "turned round" when walking in the streets of a city or traveling in a
The Assurance of Faith / 13 railroad car, when we feel as if we were going in one direction, although as a fact we are going in exactly the opposite direction. Our feelings in this case contradict the facts, and we may even know this; and yet it is almost impossible not to yield to these feelings and take the wrong direction. I have discovered that I can conquer these feelings, and turn myself round right, by just repeating over to myselfin avery emphatic way, when I fee/ that I am going north yet know as a fact that I am going south, "I am, I am, Iam going south." In a minute or two my feelings always come under the control of the fact, and I begin to feel, as well as to know, that I really am going south.
In the same way, when we have convinced ourselves from God's "record" that our sins are forgiven and that our peace is made with God, we can then control our feeling that it is not so, by a similar process. We can assert on the authority of God's word, "My sins are forgiven; I am God's child; God ts reconciled to me; I am a Christian."
Such a course, persevered in regardless of feeling, will always bring peace and deliverance to every soul that is willing to take God at his word, and to risk all on his trustworthiness.
ue. ta eee re ee rok a 20a ana