STRONG ASSURANCE
No man may certainly conclude that he is born of God merely because he
indulges strong confidence that he is a Christian. If to be strongly
persuaded that we are Christians would make us Christians, there would be no
such thing as being deceived by false hopes and delusive presumption. A man
may be persuaded that he is a child of God because he discerns in himself
the Spirit of Jesus Christ; and in such a persuasion, he has reason to place
confidence. But there is a persuasion of our acceptance with God that does
not differ from the hope of the hypocrite and the self-deceived. Some men
are confident that they are saved because they think they do not deserve to
be damned; they believe God is too merciful to damn them.
Others presume themselves to be saved because they have never done any harm.
Others hope to be saved because they have done a great deal of good. Others
have assurance because they believe they possess the spirit of true
Godliness. And others hope to be saved for no other reason than they believe
they will be saved. Now most of these are, and all of them may be, mere
delusion. There is no man saved except by grace in Jesus Christ, and
therefore, there is no man who does not deserve to be damned. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Neither is God
too merciful to damn men who deserve to be damned, for while He saves
thousands who deserve to perish, He demands, “How can you escape who neglect
so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).
As to those who feel that they have never done any harm or have done a great
deal of good, the Scriptures declare that they are vile enough to make it
necessary for the Son of God to die for their salvation, and for the Spirit
of God to effectuate an entire change in their character without which it is
impossible for them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3,5). Men
too may believe they possess the true spirit of Godliness and yet not
possess it. They may suppose that Godliness consists in something which
falls far short of true Godliness, and even if they suppose it to consist in
that which the Scriptures represent it to consist, they may not possess it.
There is a love, a repentance, a faith, a hope, a joy, a self-denial, which
are of mere human origin and spurious. The religious 23 affections of many
men are founded in supreme selfishness . They are willing to love and serve
God just so far as they believe He is willing to love and serve them, and no
farther, and this is “making him to serve with their sins” (Isa. 43:24).
The religion of such men consists in being very anxious about their own
welfare, but very little concerned for the honor and glory of God. It is
easy to say, “Pardon is mine; grace is mine; Christ and all His blessings
are mine; God has freely loved me; Christ has graciously died for me; and
the Holy Spirit will assuredly sanctify me in the belief of these precious
truths.” It is no Herculean task for an ardent mind and an unsanctified,
enthusiastic heart, to make these discoveries. This is a kind of confidence
which the subtle deceiver is interested to cherish. And the joys and
sorrows, the zeal and devotion, which spring from this delusion, constitute
a sort of religion which the blindness and deceit, the self-flattery and
pride of the carnal heart very easily substitute for true Godliness. And
what if a man firmly believes he will be saved? What if he imagines he has
the assistance of the Spirit of God in “working out this faith in himself ”?
The faith of the Gospel does not consist in believing that one shall be
saved.
There is a difference between faith in Jesus Christ and believing that we
shall be saved; between being actually a partaker in His salvation, and the
persuasion of our minds that we are partakers. Men may have strong
persuasions of their spiritual safety, who spoil themselves with their own
deceivings, and might well say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” A man
may have strong hopes who has no religion. What is the assurance of the
hypocrite though he has gained when God takes away his soul?