The Full Assurance of Faith
- p. 3
With the best of intentions, mistakes
will be made, because men are but fallible. But to the Christian the
firm assurance is given: "There is none like unto the God of
Jeshrun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency
on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the
everlasting arms." Deuteronomy 33:26, 27. His power is shown in creation.
The things that he has made attest his eternal power and Godhead. The
more powerful the government, the greater the confidence in it. Then
what more reasonable than that we should have implicit confidence in the
God whom nature and revelation combined, declare to be omnipotent,
eternal, and unchangeable?
If I should express to an infidel my
doubts as to the integrity of one of his friends, he would say:
"That's because you don't know him; just try him, and you will find
him as true as steel." This would be a fair reply; and so we say to
the infidel who doubts the promises of God: "O taste and see that
the Lord is good; . . . there is no want to them that fear him." Psalm
34:8, 9. What right has anybody to doubt God, since everybody is testing
his power and goodness every moment of his life? In the first chapter of
second Corinthians, verses
18-20, we find the following positive
statements: "But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea
and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in
him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him
amen, unto the glory of God by us."
In this Fact alone can the sinner find
any confidence in approaching to God. "Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, and today, and forever," is the sinner's only hope. It
is not to taunt them, nor to glory in disappointing them, that the
gracious call is given to men. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come
ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without
price." Isaiah 55:1.
Says Jesus, "Him that cometh to me I
will in nowise cast out" (John 6:37); and Paul says that "He
is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him"
(Hebrews 7:25). And the same apostle also says:--
"Seeing then that we have a great
high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16.
Again we read: "But without faith it
is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Hebrews 11:6. Faith, then, and boldness are characteristics that the Lord
wants those to manifest who come to him. These thoughts were suggested
by the reading of an old hymn, the first three stanzas of which are as
follows:--
"Come humble sinner,
in whose breast
A thousand thoughts
revolve;
Come with your guilt and
fear oppressed,
And make this last
resolve:
"I'll go to Jesus,
though my sins
Like mountains round me
close;
I know his courts, I'll
enter in,
Whatever may oppose.
"Prostrate I'll lie
before his throne,
And there my guilt
confess;
I'll tell him I'm a wretch
undone
Without his sovereign
grace."
That is good; no better resolve could
possibly be made; it is just what God wants every sinner to do.
See
What God
Says
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