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The Theology of Assurance by Jim Ehrhard

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

To properly understand assurance, we must begin with a proper theological base. If our theology is deficient, our assurance will be also.

As we begin, we must admit that we are dealing with difficult matters.  The one thing we must be certain of is that we teach what the Scriptures teach about assurance.  For this study, we will look primarily at Ephesians 1:3-14 though other passages could be examined as well.

The main question facing us is this: If your salvation depends on you, to any degree, how will you ever have assurance?  How do you know that you will not mess up, give up or fall short at some point in time and lose your salvation, if it depends on you to any degree?  The real question in assurance begins with: Who is salvation based upon – You or God?  If it depends on you either to be saved or to stay saved, how can you ever have assurance?  On the other hand, if it depends solely on what God has done and on what God promises He will do, then you can have assurance for He will never fail or falter in any way.

That is what the Scriptures teach about assurance.  In Philippians 1:6, Paul says, “For I am confident of this very thing, that God who began a good work in you is able to bring it forth until the day of Christ.”  In other words, if God started a work of salvation in you, He is able to finish it.  Paul notes that his own confidence was not in himself but “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).  This confidence in God’s protection is seen again in 2 Timothy 4:18: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.”  In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Paul again puts the weight of assurance on God’s ability: “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

Paul is not alone in this.  Peter notes that believers are “kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5).  Jude says the same: “loved by God the Father and kept by (or in) Jesus Christ”(vs. 1).  He ends his letter with a tremendous affirmation: “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault” (vs. 24).  Clearly the testimony of the Scriptures is this: We can be sure of eternal life, but only if it depends entirely on God and not on us.

Perhaps an illustration will help to portray the importance of this doctrine.  Picture a small child holding tightly on to his father as they ascend a high tree.  The child is completely safe if he holds on to his father.  But that is the concern – Can he continue to hold on?  Will he continue to hold on?  If he does not, he will surely fall to his death.  Such is the doctrine that teaches one can lose his salvation.  He is secure as long as he holds on; as long as his strength holds out.

Now picture the same child also holding to his father.  However, this time, his father is holding on to him.  Even if he loses his grip, he will not fall because his father holds on to him.  The most important issue is this – Is the father capable of holding on to him?  The security of the child is not based upon his ability but his father’s.  Such is the doctrine of preservation of the saints: Their security depends not upon them but upon God who holds them.

Can a person be sure of his salvation?  Only if his security depends upon God.  If your salvation depends on you, even to the smallest degree, how can you be absolutely certain that you will not mess up at some point in time?  On the other hand, if your salvation depends on God alone, your hope can be as sure as God is able to keep His promises.

Is He able? Examine the following passages: Jude 1, 24; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:18; and Philippians 1:6.  Others could be cited, but these seem sufficient.  The key question in assurance is: Who does the keeping?  God or us?  The Scriptures tell us that we are those “who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).

But let us move on to the theology of salvation.  As we have stated before, you can never be completely certain of your security if your salvation depends upon you.  To understand this more fully, we must see what the Scriptures teach about our salvation.  What we will learn is (1) that God purposed to save us before this world was ever created and His purposes will not be frustrated; (2) that Jesus death on the cross has fully paid for all our sins; and (3) that God has sealed our salvation by putting His Holy Spirit within us.  Since these doctrines are most clearly spelled out in Ephesians 1:3-14, let us turn there to examine this theology of salvation.

First, in Ephesians 1:3-6, we see that in eternity past, God the Father predestined us. This one truth alone ought to be enough to convince us of the security of those in Christ.  Could anyone possibly conceive that something which the Father has “predestined” would not make it to its destination?

But many will say, “I don’t believe in predestination!”  Whenever I hear such a statement, I feel like saying, “Don’t you believe in the Bible?”  Because the Bible clearly talks about predestination.  Now what individuals may take predestination to mean may differ, but if one believes the Bible, he must believe in predestination.

In fact, what most don’t believe is a false concept of predestination.  Many have said to me: “I can’t believe that God brings some people kicking and screaming into heaven when they don’t really want to go there, and He keeps out people who desperately want in.”  God never keeps out anyone who wants to go to heaven – on His terms.  Most of humanity may want to go to heaven, but not enough to go on God’s terms.  Additionally, God never forces any to go to heaven who don’t want to go.  In fact, what the Bible says is that He gives them a new heart, opens their eyes, and grants them understanding.  They are so changed by this experience that their greatest desire is to go there and be with Him forever.  Properly understood, predestination says that salvation is a work of God from start to finish.

A look at Ephesians 2 shows us why God must do something first before we will ever come to Him.  In verse 1, Paul gives graphic descriptions of us as unbelievers.  Note that he says that we were “dead in sins and trespasses.”  I’m convinced that if we understood how hopeless our situation was, we would understand how necessary God’s work in us in predestination is.

Our modern descriptions of salvation are neither adequate nor Biblical.  Consider just a few: Man is sick and dying; only one medicine can save him; if only he would open his mouth and take the medicine, he would be saved.  Nice illustration – but it is not Biblical.  Man is dead; pour all the medicine you want into him; it will not bring him back to life.

Or consider this: Man is drowning; he’s going down for the third time; a rope is thrown to him; he will be saved … if only he will grab the rope.  Again, moving but not Biblical. Instead, the man has drowned; he has been dragged up on shore and given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR; there is no life; there is no hope.  But along comes a man named Jesus and, with one word, restores the man to life – that’s salvation.  We were dead, helpless and lost.  But God who is rich in mercy did something to make us alive (read Ephesians 2:4-9).  Salvation is of God.  God begins His work of salvation in us so that not one of us can ever boast in what we have done.

But go back to Ephesians 1:4.  When did God decide to do this work?  When did He choose us?  When did He predestine us?  “Before the foundation of the world.”  Before you or I were ever created, God decided, and He did so not on the basis of what we would do or might do.  He decided on the basis of His mercy and love (2:4).  Why?  At least in part, that we might know that our salvation does not depend on us but on Him and that we might never boast (Eph. 2:8-9).  In eternity past, God the Father predestined us and that which God has destined to happen will indeed happen.

Second, in Ephesians 1:7-12, we see that, in history past, God the Son redeemed us. This is perhaps the easiest aspect of salvation to understand because it is the one about which we speak the most.  But it also tells us about the need for the Son to die.  Some have wondered: “If God has predestined us, then why did Jesus have to die?  If God decided before time, why make us go through all this life?”  Good questions, but they ignore the need for God to be completely just.  Surely God have could have decided to chose before the foundation of the world and could have taken those chosen to be with Him then.  But to do so would be to ignore the payment for sin that was needed.  God’s predestination alone does not save anyone if Jesus does not go to the cross and pay for sin.  But, though the cross, God is able to “be just and the justifier of one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

However, there is one aspect of salvation related to assurance that we rarely consider.  The question must be raised: What did Jesus come to do?  To answer this question, there are two possible options:

  • Did Jesus come to make salvation possible? (Thereby leaving something for us to do to either attain it or complete it?) or
  • Did Jesus come to make salvation complete? (Thereby really paying it all, with nothing left for the believer to complete or keep to keep his salvation?).

We believe the Scriptures point to the latter: That Jesus’ work on the cross was completely sufficient and efficient for the salvation of all He came to save.  This affects many aspects of assurance.  For example, many believe that Jesus died to pay for sins but question whether those sins committed after conversion are also covered.  In some theologies, certain sins or a certain quantity of sins after salvation may result in the loss of salvation.  But we must ask, how many of our sins were future when Jesus died on the cross?

But what does the Scripture say?  Acts 13:38-39 tells us that Jesus paid for “all the sins for which you could not be forgiven of by the law of Moses.”  Hebrews 10:11-14 concludes: “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”  Most of all, the Bible teaches that if Jesus loses even one of those the Father (in predestination) has given to Him, He is a disobedient son (John 6:38-39).  If Jesus loses one in all of history, then all are lost, for a disobedient son can not be the perfect sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world.

Third, in Ephesians 1:13-14, we see that, in our past, God the Holy Spirit has sealed us. To fully understand the theology of salvation and, thus, assurance, we must understand the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation.  To begin with, the Bible teaches that no one can even come to the Father unless he is drawn by the Spirit (John 6:44, 65).  In fact, in John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he cannot even see, much less enter, the Kingdom of heaven apart from the work of the spirit in his life (vv. 3, 5).

Before one considers the sealing of the Spirit, he must ask, “Have I been drawn to God by His Spirit?  Has He opened my eyes to see what I could not see on my own?”  Such is the work of the Spirit in salvation.  As Jesus said, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63).

What are the evidences that you have been drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit?  In his book, From Religion to Christ, Peter Jeffery explains:

Drawing is the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel.  To souls dead in sin, God begins to speak.  The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and gives the gift of faith which leads to repentance.  It is not an emotional experience in church, though it can be part of it.  The mind as well as the emotions are involved.  The sinner listens and learns from the Father, said Jesus.  This can take place in a matter of minutes and some folk are converted the first time they hear the Gospel, but for most of us it occurs over a period of days or weeks or even years.  We have heard the gospel and we begin to understand.  What was previously dull and boring becomes riveting and absorbing.  We find that when we are washing the dishes, or driving the car, or doing our daily work that our mind suddenly turns to God.  We want God and we cannot get rid of the longing.  It may come and go, but it does not go very long.  We do not like the conviction of sin which we feel and may vow never to go to church again, but we do.  Why?  Because God is drawing (pp. 57-58).

Is this your experience?  Have you been drawn by the Spirit to Christ?  Have you come to the place where the gospel that once seemed foolish and complex now seems simple and true?  That is the work of the Spirit in salvation.  He causes your heart to trust Him after you hear “the word of truth” (Ephesians 1:13).

But that is not all the Spirit does in salvation.  After you believed, God sealed you with the “Holy Spirit of promise” as “the guarantee of our inheritance.”  And He does not do so for a temporary period of time; He does so “until the redemption of the purchased possession.”  That is, until God comes to take His possession home to be with Him forever.  What greater assurance could one ask for?

The work of the Holy Spirit is described in these verses in two ways: as a seal and as an earnest.  Both are very instructive.  Seals were used in a variety of ways, but usually they were placed upon objects to indicate that those objects were protected by a higher authority.  One who broke that seal would have to reckon with that authority.  What a beautiful picture this is of God’s keeping power in salvation!  Even today, seals are placed upon jars to preserve the contents from spoiling.  Such is the role of the Spirit: His work is to preserve true believers and present them “spotless and blameless before the throne” (Jude 23-24).

The other picture is just as descriptive.  An earnest is a deposit put up by a purchaser to guarantee that he will indeed return to reclaim his possession (and usually pay the remainder in full).  In this case, God the Son has already paid for His possession in full, and He has given every believer His Holy Spirit as a guarantee that He will one day return to reclaim His purchased possession.  What more assurance could one desire?  God has predestined, Jesus has died to pay the full price, and the Spirit has sealed us as a guarantee.

The real question is this: Am I one whom God has chosen?  Am I one for whom Jesus has died?  Have I been drawn by His Spirit and sealed until the day of redemption?

Let’s look again at Ephesians 1.  Here we see not only the theology of salvation but some glimpses of evidences of true believers.

First, do you have a desire to be holy? Ephesians 1:4 tells us that God chose us with this purpose in mind: “that we should be holy and without blame before Him.”  This does not indicate that we must be perfect or sinless, but that the desire and direction of the heart of one born of the Spirit is to obey God with all our heart.  Even when we falter, we find ourselves saying with the Apostle Paul: “The good that I would, I do not; but the evil that I would not, that I do.”  The question is: Is there the longing in your heart to obey God?  This can be an evidence of your salvation.

Second, have you gained understanding of that which was once a mystery to you? In Ephesians 1:8-9, Paul speaks of the “riches of His grace which He made to abound to us” by “making known to us the mystery of His will….”  Before you came to Christ, the gospel seemed foolishness.  But then one day, “the light came on” and then it all seemed so simple and sensible.  Such understanding of this “mystery” did not come through your own wisdom.  It came as God revealed it to you.  When Peter made his great profession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus was quick to remind him: “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven”(Mt. 16:17).  Likewise, Jesus, in Matthew 11:25-27, said that His Father had “hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.”  One evidence of true faith is that work of the Spirit in us that causes us to understand that which was once a “mystery.”

Third, do you have a desire to honor Him? Throughout Ephesians 1:3-14, one theme echoes loudly: “that we might be to the praise of His glory.”  One who is truly born again has a deep desire to honor the Lord.  The more we understand about God’s grace in saving us, the more we realize that He alone deserves all the credit and honor for our salvation.  Such a perspective produces the humility spoken of in Ephesians 2:9.  We are no longer tempted to boast in what we have done in choosing Christ; instead we boast only of what He has done in us.  The heart cry of the believer is “Except for the grace of God, there go I.”

Fourth, have you made a decision to believe? In Ephesians 1:13, Paul notes that an aspect of saving faith is that they “believed.”  We often misunderstand this aspect of salvation thinking that it is our decision that gets us into heaven.  To come to Christ, one must believe.  But in reality, God has chosen long before we ever “decided” and He has changed our heart to desire Him.  Thus our decision to follow Jesus is an evidence of God’s grace in our lives.  The Scripture is clear: not one of us will even seek God unless His Holy Spirit draws us unto Himself.  In God’s work of grace, He gives us a new heart that causes us to desire Jesus more than we desire anything else.

The result is that we believe.  No other decision seems logical: we must believe.  Like Peter, we find ourselves saying, “To whom else shall we go; you alone have the words of life” (John 6:68).  Thus one must believe, but he will not unless God’s Spirit opens his eyes and then he can see salvation in no one but Jesus.  Believing is an evidence of salvation.

Have you believed? Some may say, “What you teach is not so; I can believe whenever I want to.”  Then why won’t you believe?  If you really saw your condition as hopeless as the Bible teaches, you would not be able to live in your sin one day longer.  If you really saw Jesus as the only hope of salvation, then you would flee to Him as the only refuge for your soul.  If you really understood the “mystery” of salvation, you would not hesitate to cast your lot immediately with Christ.  The very fact that you linger indicates that you are still in your sin and headed to hell.  Wake up!  Do not fool yourself into thinking you can believe anytime you want to.  If the Spirit of God has changed your heart, you will believe; no other choice will make sense.

Yet some may say, “From what you teach, God has counted me out and I can’t come to Him.” No, on the contrary, you count yourself out.  John 3:16 says, “whosoever believeth…;”  Romans 10:13 says, “whosoever will call…;” other passages tell us, “whosoever will may come.”  God doesn’t say you can’t come; He says you won’t come. In fact, John Calvin (who always gets blamed for being a hyper-Calvinist at this point) said, “He has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers.”

The whosoevers of Scripture remove any excuse you might have for not coming to the Savior.  He has invited you to come.  Your unwillingness to come simply shows the depth of your need.  Never will a man appear before God and say that he longed for, desired, willed and sought to come but was refused.  Christ says that if you will, you may come.  The truth is that you don’t really want to come or you would run into His arms and accept His mercy.  The whosoevers also shatter the illusion that only certain types of people or people from certain races, cultures or countries may come.  God says, “whosoever will may come.”  Finally the whosoevers of Scripture destroy the myth that you are too sinful to come to Jesus.  Some reason thus: “My life is so rotten that I could never come to Jesus.  I am so wicked that there is no hope.”  No – the Bible says, “Whosoever” may come.

Since we are talking about assurance, let us examine one more “whosoever” in Scripture.  John 6:47 tells us, “whosoever believes in me shall have everlasting life.”  Jesus explains why in John 6:37: “All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one that comes to me I will by no means cast out.”  This is the confidence believers have in Him.  Not that we have done anything to merit our salvation; it is all of Him, all to the praise of His glory.  Not that we are capable of doing anything to keep us “good enough” to go to heaven.  It is His keeping power that we depend upon to make heaven, not ours.

We can be sure of eternal life because God has predestined us, and what He has begun, He will finish (Philippians 1:6).  We can be certain of heaven because Jesus has died for us and paid our debt in full; nothing is left to be paid.  Finally, we can rest in His work because He has given us His Spirit who has called us, drawn us, opened our eyes, and sealed us unto the day of redemption.  We can be sure – because it all depends on Him and not on us!

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

Assurance of Salvation by Jim Ehrhard

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

When we come to the doctrine of assurance, there is often much misunderstanding.  Many do not have assurance because they have been taught that such assurance is not possible.  On the basis of passages taken out of context, they have concluded that all believers have the potential to lose their salvation.  On the other hand, many who believe in the “security of the believer” often do so on the basis of a faulty, man-centered theology of salvation.  This article attempts to address these problems through an examination of the Scriptures.  My hope is that many will find that their only assurance is in Jesus Christ alone.

The doctrine of assurance is not something to take lightly.  D. Martin Lloyd-Jones states: “Nothing is more important for us than to know that we are indeed the children of God…. You can’t really enjoy the blessings of the Christian life unless you’ve got this assurance.” John MacArthur, Jr. agrees: “No doctrine is more immediately practical than the doctrine of assurance.” If you have no assurance of God’s acceptance, you have no peace.  If you have no peace, you will lose your joy.  If you have no joy, your testimony will lose its radiance.

Much is really at stake when we consider the issue of assurance.  First, your prayer life will be hindered by a lack of assurance.  How can you be confident in your praying if you are not even sure you are a child of God?  And how can one “come boldly before the throne” while the possibility of judgment still looms.  Second, your perseverance in trials will be affected by a lack of assurance.  In Romans 8:18, Paul expresses the motive that kept him going in all kinds of trials and hardships: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be revealed in us.”  But how can one keep on if he is unsure that any “glory” is waiting in heaven?

Third, your service for the Lord will be affected by a lack of assurance.  Hebrews 6:10 tells us: “God is not unjust to forget your labor and work of love….”  But if you are not sure you will even make heaven to gain His reward, why serve the Lord in this life?  Thomas Manton suggests that, when believers are unsure about their salvation, they “serve the Lord in fits and starts.”  Fourth, your confidence at death will be shaken without assurance of salvation.  In I Corinthians 15, Paul explains that he was willing to “fight the wild beasts of Ephesus” only because he was confident of his own hope of eternal life based on the reality of Jesus’ resurrection.  Indeed, would any give their life for the sake of Christ if death might mean entrance into eternal damnation?  No, only with the certainty of eternal life settled could anyone say, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Fifth, assurance affects your zeal in evangelism.  Someone has defined evangelism as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”  Evangelism is one satisfied customer telling another about the great gift he has received.  But if you’re not sure you that gift is really yours forever, how can you be excited about sharing it with others?

A study of the Scriptures on assurance leads to three conclusions.

1. Many who have assurance are not saved. It is most important that we begin any study of assurance with this warning.  As an old spiritual says, “Everybody talkin’ bout heaven ain’t goin’ there.”  In fact, a recent survey discovered that 99% of Americans believe that they are going to heaven!  According to Jesus, “Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and I will say to them, ‘I never knew you.’”

Many are falsely assured because they think that belonging to the right religious group will get them into heaven.  John the Baptist warned the Pharisees, “God can raise up son to Abraham from stones.”  Others are falsely assured because they have watered down the Bible’s view of God and His judgment of sin.  They reason that “God loves everyone and wouldn’t send anyone to hell,” or they believe that God only punished certain “serious” sins.  Still others believe that they will get to heaven because they have lived a pretty good life.  But the Bible teaches that all these are falsely assured.  As one author puts it, “The only thing worse than NO ASSURANCE is FALSE ASSURANCE.”

2. Some who are saved do not have assurance. Many of these lack assurance because of misunderstandings that they have been taught about salvation and assurance.  For example, some suggest that you are not a Christian if you do not know the date you were saved. They explain that you know your birthday, so you ought to know your spiritual birthday.  But such reasoning is not logical.  You only know your birthday because you were told it repeatedly as a child.  Knowing your birthday is not evidence you are alive—signs of life are.  Many who are born again cannot tell the exact day of their spiritual birth, but they are clearly spiritually alive.

Others suggest that you are not a Christian if you have doubts about your salvation. 1 John 5:13 makes it clear that even true believers can have doubts.  In fact, John says he writes to help believers know for sure that they have eternal life.  Even the great Charles Spurgeon entertained doubts.  He said, “I have only known one or two saints who have rarely doubted their interest in Christ at all.”  There are many reasons for such doubts such as unrepentant sin, spiritual laziness, demonic attacks, physical and mental problems, comparisons with the experiences of other believers, and childhood conversions.

Some suggest that you are not a Christian if you didn’t pray “the prayer.” This is also a false view of salvation.  Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that one must “pray a prayer” to be converted; we certainly are never given a specific one to pray.  In reality, one must “call upon the Lord” to be saved, but to assert that a particular prayer must be prayed is not Biblical.

In brief, one can be saved though they may have doubts.  Only through a Scriptural examination can one gain that assurance.

3. It is possible to have full assurance of salvation. Many passages indicate the possibility that one can be sure of their salvation.  Read Romans 8:16; 2 Timothy 1:12; I John 5:13; 1 Peter 1:4-5; Jude 24 and 2 Peter 1:10.  The passage in 2 Peter is especially interesting since there we are told to “make our calling and election sure.”  In other words, even though the matter is settled from God’s perspective, we may not be sure.  Thus Peter gives some instructions to help lead to assurance.

After reading all of this, may I ask you one question?  Are you concerned about your assurance? One test of real faith is concern about your spiritual life and destiny.  Charles Spurgeon once said that if you are concerned about your election, you probably are elect.  Those truly converted care about spiritual things.

Interestingly, the converse is also true.  Spurgeon also noted that it did not surprise him that some doubted their conversion.  What surprised him was that one who lacked assurance of his eternal destiny could rest one minute until he had settled that question.  One modern author, Donald Whitney, likens such a one to a person on the brink of bankruptcy hearing from his attorney that he might be heir to a fortune.  Would that person not do everything in his power to find out for sure about that inheritance?  Yet I have talked with many who expressed doubts about their salvation who were not slightly interested in doing anything to find out for sure.  Such is usually an indication that that person has reason to fear his eternal destiny though he may “feel” sure of heaven.

Finally, some who may read this may say, “Why check it out? I’m okay.”  First, you need to check because the Scriptures tell us to.  “Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith” Paul told the Corinthians.  Those who are really converted have nothing to fear by an honest, Biblical examination of their salvation.  Only the man-selling fake gold has anything to fear when a prospective buyer wants to have the gold tested before buying.  Remember, the only thing worse than no assurance is a false assurance.  What could be worse than to spend your whole life thinking that you were on your way to heaven, only to arrive at the judgment and hear Jesus say, “Depart from me, for I never knew you”?  The matter of eternity is too important to go though this life unsure of your ultimate outcome.

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

Preface to the Study by Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

The doctrine of assurance is a much needed topic among Christians. Some today have allowed this blessed doctrine to become a catch-word for “easy-believism.” Certainly there are many in our generation who are “assured” of their salvation because they have walked the aisle or prayed a prayer. Even though their lives have never shown any indication of saving grace, they remain convinced that they have assurance because of what they have done (praying a prayer, walking the aisle, etc.). True biblical assurance is never based on what we have done, but solely on what Christ has done.

In reaction to this abuse and misunderstanding of assurance, many Christians have abandoned it and, in doing so, have taken away the comfort and strength of the gospel itself. The recovery of a biblical understanding of assurance is vital for our day.

To this end, we have prepared two editions on the Doctrine of Assurance – this Spring issue and the Summer issue to follow. In this issue, we have placed the focus on Assurance itself. In the Summer issue, we will include other related aspects, including questions about perseverance and falling away. Also, this issue includes two articles that will have follow-up articles in the next issue. The first is “A Conversation on Assurance” by A. W. Pink. This “conversation” focuses on the person who refuses to honestly examine his conversion. “Another Conversation on Assurance” in the next issue will focus on the humble hearted believer and provide some indications of true conversion. Additionally, this issue includes an article by J. C. Ryle on “Assurance.” Ryle’s book on assurance is one of the best available and we only have space to include small portions. The next issue will include a article by Ryle that is really the 4th point of this article. We’ve titled it, “Reasons Assurance Is Not Attained.”

Thanks for your prayers and support for this ministry. With the Apostle Paul, we say, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ!” To Him be all the glory for His great salvation!

By His Grace, Jim & Debbie

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The Godly Man Strives to Make Others Godly by Thomas Watson

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

He is not content to do to heaven alone but wants to take others there. Spiders work only for themselves, but bees work for others.  A godly man is both a diamond and a lodestone—a diamond for the sparkling luster of grace and a lodestone for his attractiveness.  He is always drawing others to embrace piety.  Living things have a propagating virtue.  Where religion lives in the heart, there will be an endeavor to propagate the life of grace in those we converse with:  “My son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds” (Philemon 10).  Though God is the fountain of grace, yet the saints are pipes to transmit living streams to others. This great effort for the conversion of souls proceeds:

I. From the nature of godliness.

It is like fire which assimilates and turns everything into its own nature.  Where there is the fire of grace in the heart, it will endeavor to inflame others.  Grace is a holy leaven, which will be seasoning and leavening others with divine principles.  Paul would gladly have converted Agrippa—how he courted him with rhetoric! “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?  I know that thou believest” (Acts 26:27).  His zeal and eloquence had almost captivated the king (v. 28).  Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

II.  From a spirit of compassion.

Grace makes the heart tender.  A godly man cannot choose but pity those who are in the gall of bitterness.  He sees what a deadly cup is brewing for the wicked.  They must, without repentance, be bound over to God’s wrath.  The fire which rained on Sodom was but a painted fire in comparison with hell fire.  This is a fire with a vengeance: “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).  Now when a godly man sees captive sinners ready to be damned, he strives to convert them from the error of their way: “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).

III.  From a holy zeal he has for Christ’s glory.

The glory of Christ is as dear to him as his own salvation.  Therefore, that this may be promoted, he strives with the greatest effort to bring souls to Christ.

It is a glory to Christ when multitudes are born to him. Every star adds a luster to the sky; every convert is a member added to Christ’s body and a jewel adorning his crown.  Though Christ’s glory cannot be increased, as he is God, yet as he is Mediator, it may.  The more there are saved, the more Christ is exalted.  Why else should the angels rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, but because Christ’s glory now shines the more (Luke 15:10)?

Use I: This excludes those who are spiritual eunuchs from the number of the godly. They do not strive to promote the salvation of others.  “The one through whom no-one else is born is himself born unworthily.”

1.  If men loved Christ, they would try to draw as many as they could to him. He who loves his captain will persuade others to come under his banner.  This unmasks the hypocrite.  Though a hypocrite may make a show of grace himself, yet he never bothers to procure grace in others.  He is without compassion.  I may allude to the verse: “that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off” (Zech. 11:9).  Let souls go to the devil, he cares not.

2.  How far from being godly are those who instead of striving for grace in others, work to destroy all hopeful beginnings of grace in them! Instead of drawing them to Christ, they draw them from Christ. Their work is to poison and harm souls. This harming of souls occurs in three ways:

(i) By bad edicts.  So Jeroboam made Israel sin (I Kings 16:26).  He forced them to idolatry.

(ii)       By bad examples.  Examples speak louder than precepts, but principally the examples of great men are influential.  Men placed on high are like the “pillar of cloud.”  When that went, Israel went. If great men move irregularly, others will follow them.

(iii) By bad company.  The breath of sinners is infectious.  They are like the dragon which “cast a flood out of his mouth” (Rev. 12:15).  They cast a flood of oaths out of their mouths.  Wicked tongues are set on fire by hell (Jas. 3:6).  The sinner finds match and gunpowder, and the devil finds fire.  The wicked are for ever setting snares and temptations before others, as the prophet speaks in another sense: “I set pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink” (Jer. 35:5).  So the wicked set pots of wine before others and make them drink, till reason is stupefied and lust inflamed.  These who make men proselytes to the devil are prodigi­ously wicked.  How sad will be the doom of those who, besides their own sins, have the blood of others to answer for!

3.  If it is the sign of a godly man to promote grace in others, then how much more ought he to promote it in his near relations. A godly man will be careful that his children should know God.  He would be sorry that any of his flesh should burn in hell.  He labors to see Christ formed in those who are himself in another edition.  Augustine says that his mother Monica travailed with greater care and pain for his spiritual than for his natural birth.

The time of childhood is the fittest time to be sowing seed of religion in our children.  “Whom shall he make to understand doctrine?  Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts” (Isa. 28:9).  The wax, while it is soft and tender, will take any impression.  Children, while they are young, will fear a reproof; when they are old, they will hate it.

(i) It is pleasing to God that our children should know him early in life.  When you come into a garden, you love to pluck the young bud and smell it.  God loves a saint in the bud.  Of all the trees which the Lord could have chosen in a prophetic vision (Jer. 1:11), he chose the almond tree, which is one of the first of the trees to blossom.  Such an almond tree is an early convert.

(ii) By endeavoring to bring up our children in the fear of the Lord, we shall provide for Gods glory when we are dead.  A godly man should not only honor God while he lives, but do something that may promote God’s glory when he is dead.  If our children are seasoned with gracious principles, they will stand up in our place when we have gone, and will glorify God in their generation.  A good piece of ground bears not only a fore-crop but an after-crop.  He who is godly does not only bear God a good crop of obedience himself while he lives, but by training his child in the principles of religion, he bears God an after-crop when he is dead.

Use 2: Let all who have God’s name placed on them do what in them lies to advance piety in others. A knife touched with a lodestone will attract the needle.  He whose heart is divinely touched with the lodestone of God’s Spirit will endeavor to attract those who are near him to Christ.  The heathen could say, “We are not born for ourselves only.”  The more excellent anything is, the more communi­cative it is.  In the body every member is diffusive: the eye conveys light; the head, spirits; the liver, blood.  A Christian must not move altogether within his own circle, but seek the welfare of others.  To be diffusely good makes us resemble God, whose sacred influence is universal.

And surely it will be no grief of heart when conscience can witness for us that we have brought glory to God in this matter by working to fill heaven.  Not that this is in any way meritorious, or has any causal influence on our salvation. Christ’s blood is the cause, but our promoting God’s glory in the conversion of others is a signal evidence of our salvation.  As the rainbow is not a cause why God will not drown the world, but is a sign that he will not drown it; or as Rahab’s scarlet thread hung out of the window (Joshua 2:18) was not a cause why she was exempted from destruction, but was a sign of her being exempted, so our building up others in the faith is not a cause why we are saved, but it is a symbol of our piety and a presage of our felicity.

And thus I have shown the marks and characteristics of a godly man.  If a person thus described is reputed a fanatic, then Abraham and Moses and David and Paul were fanatics, which I think none but atheists will dare to affirm!

From The Godly Man’s Picture by Thomas Watson.

Posted in Thomas Watson |

Enduring to the End by C. H. Spurgeon

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

“He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” — Matthew 10:22

This particular text was originally addressed to the apostles when they were sent to teach and preach in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Perhaps bright visions floated before their minds, of honor and esteem among men.  It was no mean dignity to be among the twelve first heralds of salvation to the sons of Adam.  Was a check needed to their high hopes?  Perhaps so.  Lest they should enter upon their work without having counted its cost, Christ gives them a very full description of the treatment which they might expect to receive, and reminds them that it was not the commencement of their ministry which would win them their reward, but “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”  It would be well if every youthful aspirant to the gospel ministry would remember this, if merely to put our hand to the plough proved us to be called of God, how many would he found so?  But alas, too many look back and prove unworthy of the kingdom.

The charge of Paul to Timothy is a very necessary exhortation to every young minister: “Be thou faithful unto death.”  It is not to be faithful for a time, but to be “faithful unto death,” which will enable a man to say, “I have fought a good fight.”  How many dangers surround the Christian minister!  As the officers in an army are the chosen targets of the sharpshooters, so are the ministers of Christ.  The king of Syria said to his servants, “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel;” even so the arch-fiend makes his main attack upon the ministers of God.

From the first moment of his call to the work, the preacher of the Word will be familiar with temptation.  While he is yet in his youth, there are multitudes of the softer temptations to turn the head and trip the feet of the youthful herald of the cross.  And when the blandishments of early popularity have passed away, as soon they must, the harsh croak of slander and the adder’s tongue of ingratitude assail him, he finds himself stale and flat where once he was flattered and admired; nay, the venom of malice succeeds to the honeyed morsels of adulation.  Now, let him gird his loins and fight the good fight of faith.  In his after days, to provide fresh matter Sabbath after Sabbath, to rule as in the sight of God, to watch over the souls of men, to weep with them who weep, to rejoice with those who do rejoice, to be a nursing father unto young converts, sternly to rebuke hypocrites, to deal faithfully with backsliders, to speak with solemn authority and paternal pathos to those who are in the first stages of spiritual decline, to carry about with him the care of the souls of hundreds is enough to make him grow old while yet he is young, and to mar his visage with the lines of grief, till, like the Savior, at the age of thirty years, men shall count him nearly fifty.  “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” said the adversaries of Christ to him when he was but thirty-two.  If the minister should fall, my brethren; if, set upon a pinnacle, he should be cast down; if, standing in slippery places, he should falter; if the standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may, what mischief is done to the Church, what shouts are heard among the adversaries, what dancings are seen among the daughters of Philistia!  How hath God’s banner been stained in the dust, and the name of Jesus cast into the mire!

When the minister of Christ turns traitor, it is as if the pillars of the house did tremble; every stone in the structure feels the shock.  If Satan can succeed in overturning the preachers of the Word, it is as if yon broad-spreading tree should suddenly fall beneath the axe; prone in the dust it lies to wither and to rot; but where are the birds of the air which made their nests among its boughs, and whither lie those beasts of the field which found a happy shadow beneath its branches?  Dismay hath seized them, and they flee in affright.  All who were comforted by the preacher’s word, strengthened by his example, and edified by his teaching are filled with humiliation and grief, crying, “Alas! my brother.”  By these our manifold dangers and weighty responsibilities, we may very justly appeal to you who feed under our ministry, and beseech you, “Brethren, pray for us.”  Well, we know that though our ministry be received of the Lord Jesus, if hitherto we have been kept faithful by the power of the Holy Ghost, yet it is only he who endureth to the end who shall be saved.

But, my brethren, how glorious is the sight of the man who does endure to the end as a minister of Christ. I have photographed upon my heart just now, the portrait of one very, very dear to me, and I think I may venture to produce a rough sketch of him as no mean example of how honorable it is to endure to the end.  This man began while yet a youth to preach the Word.  Sprung of ancestors who had loved the Lord and served his Church, he felt the glow of holy enthusiasm.  Having proved his capabilities, he entered college and, after the close of its course, settled in a spot where for more than fifty years he continued his labors.  In his early days, his sober earnestness and sound doctrine were owned of God in many conversions both at home and abroad.  Assailed by slander and abuse, it was his privilege to live it all down.  He outlived his enemies, and though he had buried a generation of his friends, yet he found many warm hearts clustering round him to the last.  Visiting his flock, preaching in his own pulpit, and making very many journeys to other Churches, years followed one another so rapidly that he found himself the head of a large tribe of children and grandchildren, most of them walking in the truth.  At the age of fourscore years, he preached on still, until laden with infirmities, but yet as joyful and as cheerful as in the heyday of his youth, his time had come to die.  He was able to say truthfully, when last he spake to me, “I do not know that my testimony for God has ever altered as to the fundamental doctrines; I have grown in experience, but, from the first day until now, I have had no new doctrines to teach my hearers.  I have had to make no confessions of error on vital points, but have held fast to the doctrines of grace and can now say that I love them better than ever.”  Such an one was he, as Paul, the aged, longing to preach so long as his tottering knees could bear him to the pulpit.  I am thankful that I had such a grandsire.  He fell asleep in Christ but a few hours ago, and on his dying bed talked as cheerfully as men can do in the full vigor of their health.  Most sweetly he talked of the preciousness of Christ, and chiefly of the security of the believer; the truthfulness of the promise; the immutability of the covenant; the faithfulness of God, and the infallibility of the divine decree.  Among other things which he said at the last was this, which is, we think, worth your treasuring in your memories. “Dr. Watts sings —

“Firm as the earth thy gospel stands,

My Lord, my hope, my trust.”

What, Doctor, is it not firmer than that?  Could you not find a better comparison?  Why, the earth will give way beneath our feet one day or another, if we rest on it.  The comparison will not do.  The Doctor was much nearer the mark when he said –

“Firm as his throne his promise stands,

And he can well secure

What I’ve committed to his hands.

Till the decisive hour.”

“Firm as his throne,” said he, “he must cease to be king before he can break his promise or lose his people.  Divine sovereignty makes us all secure.”  He fell asleep right quietly, for his day was over and the night was come.  What could he do better than go to rest in Jesus?  Would God it may be our lot to preach the Word, so long as we breathe, standing fast unto the end in the truth of God; and if we see not our sons and grandsons testifying to those doctrines which are so dear to us, yet may we see our children walking in the truth.  I know of nothing, dear friends, which I would choose to have, as the subject of my ambition for life, than to be kept faithful to my God to death, still to be a soul-winner, still to be a true herald of the cross, and testify the name of Jesus to the last hour.

Our text, however, occurs again in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, at the fourteenth verse, upon which occasion it was not addressed to the apostles, but to the disciples.  The disciples, looking upon the huge stones which were used in the construction of the Temple, admired the edifice greatly, and expected their Lord to utter a few words of passing encomium [praise]; instead of which, he who came not to be an admirer of architecture but to hew living stones out of the quarry of nature, to build them up into a spiritual temple turned their remarks to practical account, by warning them of a time of affliction, in which there should be such trouble as had never been before, and he added, “No, nor ever shall be.”  He described false prophets as abounding, and the love of many as waxing cold, and warned them that “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”  So that this solemn truth applies to every one of you.

The Christian man, though not called to the post of danger in witnessing publicly of the grace of God, is destined in his measure to testify concerning Jesus and, in his proper sphere and place, to be a burning and a shining light.  He may not have the cares of a Church, but he hath far more, the cares of business: he is mixed up with the world; he is compelled to associate with the ungodly.  To a great degree, he must, at least six days in the week, walk in an atmosphere uncongenial with his nature: he is compelled to hear words which will never provoke him to love and good works, and to behold actions whose example is obnoxious.  He is exposed to temptations of every sort and size, for this is the lot of the followers of the Lamb.  Satan knows how useful is a consistent follower of the Savior, and how much damage to Christ’s cause an inconsistent professor may bring, and therefore he emptieth out all his arrows from his quiver that he may wound, even unto death, the soldier of the cross.  My brethren, many of you have had a far longer experience than myself; you know how stern is the battle of the religious life, how you must contend, even unto blood, striving against sin.  Your life is one continued scene of warfare, both without and within; perhaps even now you are crying with the apostle, “O wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  A Christian’s career is always fighting, never ceasing; always ploughing the stormy sea, and never resting till he reaches the port of glory.  If my God shall preserve you, as preserve you he must, or else you are not his; if he shall keep you, as keep you he will if you have committed your souls to his faithful guardianship, what an honor awaits you!

I have in my mind’s eye, just now, one who has been for about sixty years associated with this Church, and who this week, full of years and ripe for heaven, was carried by angels into the Savior’s bosom.  Called by divine grace, while yet young, he was united with the Christian Church early in life.  By divine grace, he was enabled to maintain a consistent and honorable character for many years; as an officer of this Church, he was acceptable among his brethren and useful both by his godly example and sound judgment; while in various parts of the Church of Christ, he earned unto himself a good degree.  He went last Sabbath day twice to the house of God where he was accustomed of late years to worship, enjoying the Word and feasting at the Communion-table with much delight.  He went to his bed without having any very serious illness upon him, having spent his last evening upon earth in cheerful conversation with his daughters.  Ere the morning light, with his head leaning upon his hand, he had fallen asleep in Christ, having been admitted to the rest which remaineth for the people of God.

As I think of my brother, though of late years I have seen but little of him, I can but rejoice in the grace which illuminated his pathway.  When I saw him the week before his departure, although full of years, there was little or no failure in mind.  He was just the picture of an aged saint waiting for his Master, and willing to work in his cause while life remained. I refer, as most of you know, to Mr. Samuel Gale.  Let us thank God and take courage — thank God that he has preserved, in this case, a Christian so many, many years, and take courage to hope that there will be found in this Church, many, at all periods, whose grey heads shall be crowns of glory.  “He that endureth to the end,” and only he “shall be saved.”

But, dear friends, perseverance is not the lot of the few; it is not left to laborious preachers of the Word, or to consistent Church-officers.  It is the common lot of every believer in the Church.  It must be so, for only thus can they prove that they are believers.  It must be so, for only by their perseverance can the promise be fulfilled, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.”  Without perseverance, they cannot be saved; and, as saved they must be, persevere they shall through divine grace.

I shall now, with brevity and earnestness, as God enables me, speak upon our text thus: perseverance is the badge of saints — the target of our foes — the glory of Christ — and the care of all believers.

I. First, then, PERSEVERANCE IS THE BADGE OF TRUE SAINTS.

It is their Scriptural mark.  How am I to know a Christian?  By his words?  Well, to some degree words betray the man; but a man’s speech is not always the copy of his heart, for with smooth language many are able to deceive.  What doth our Lord say? “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  But how am I to know a man’s fruits?  By watching him one day?  I may, perhaps, form a guess of his character by being with him for a single hour, but I could not confidently pronounce upon a man’s true state even by being with him for a week.  George Whitfield was asked what he thought of a certain person’s character.  “I have never lived with him,” was his very proper answer.  If we take the run of a man’s life, say for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and, if by carefully watching, we see that he brings forth the fruits of grace through the Holy Spirit, our conclusion may be drawn very safely.  As the truly magnetized needle in the compass, with many deflections, yet does really and naturally point to the pole; so, if I can see that despite infirmities, my friend sincerely and constantly aims at holiness, then I may conclude with something like certainty that he is a child of God.

Although works do not justify a man before God, they do justify a man’s profession before his fellows. I cannot tell whether you are justified in calling yourself a Christian except by your works; by your works, therefore, as James saith, shall ye be justified.  You cannot by your words convince me that you are a Christian, much less by your experience, which I cannot see but must take on trust from you; but your actions will, unless you be an unmitigated hypocrite, speak the truth, and speak the truth loudly too.  If your course is as the shining light which shineth more unto the perfect day, I know that yours is the path of the just.  All other conclusions are only the judgment of charity such as we are bound to exercise; but this is as far as man can get it, the judgment of certainty when a man’s life has been consistent throughout.

Moreover, analogy shows us that it is perseverance which must mark the Christian.  How do I know the winner at the foot-race?  There are the spectators, and there are the runners.  What strong men!  What magnificent muscles!  What thighs and sinews!  Yonder is the goal, and there it is that I must judge who is the winner, not here, at the starting-point, for “They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize.”  I may select this one, or that other person, as likely to win, but I cannot be absolutely sure until the race is over.  There they fly!  See how they press forward with straining muscles; but one has tripped, another faints, a third is out of breath, and others are far behind.  One only wins — and who is he?  Why, he who continueth to the end.  So I may gather from the analogy, which Paul constantly allows us from the ancient games, that only he who continueth till he reaches the goal may be accounted a Christian at all.  A ship starts on a voyage to Australia — if it stops at Madeira, or returns after reaching the Cape, would you consider that it ought to be called an emigrant ship for New South Wales?  It must go the whole voyage, or it does not deserve the name.  A man has begun to build a house and has erected one side of it — do you consider him a builder if he stops there, and fails to cover it in or to finish the other walls?  Do we give men praise for being warriors because they know how to make one desperate charge, but lose the campaign?  Have we not, of late, smiled at the boasting dispatches of commanders in fights where both combatants fought with valor, and yet neither of them had the common sense to push on to reap the victory?  What was the very strength of Wellington, but that when a triumph had been achieved, he knew how to reap the harvest which had been sown in blood?  And he only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continueth till war’s trumpet is blown no more.  It is with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, “Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.”  So, under God, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you.  Your motto must be, “Excelsior;” or, if it be not, you know not the noble spirit of God’s princes.  But why do I multiply illustrations when all the world rings with the praise of perseverance?

Moreover, the common-sense judgment of mankind tells us that those who merely begin and do not hold out, will not be saved.  Why, if every man would be saved who began to follow Christ, who would be damned?  In such a country as this, most men have at least one religious spasm in their lives. I suppose that there is not a person before me who at some time or other did not determine to be a pilgrim.  You, Mr. Pliable, were induced by a Christian friend, who had some influence with you, to go with him some short way, till you came to the Slough of Despond, and you thought yourself very wise when you scrambled out on that side which was nearest to your own home.  And even you, Mr. Obstinate, are not always dogged; you have fits of thoughtfulness and intervals of tenderness.  My hearer, how impressed you were at the prayer meeting!  How excited you were at that revival service!  When you heard a zealous brother preach at the theater what an impression was produced!  Ah!  Yes; the shop was shut up for a Sunday or two; you did not swear or get drunk for nearly a month, but you could not hold on any longer.

Now, if those who were to begin were saved, why you would be secure, though you are at the present time as far from anything like religion, as the darkness at midnight is from the blazing light of midday.  Besides, common sense shows us, I say, that a man must hold on or else he cannot be saved, because the very worst of men are those who begin and then give up.  If you would turn over all the black pages of villainy to find the name of the son of perdition, where would you find it?  Why, among the apostles.  The man who had wrought miracles and preached the gospel sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver — Judas Iscariot betrays the Son of Man with a kiss.  Where is a worse name than that of Simon Magus?  Simon “believed also,” says the Scripture, and yet he offered the apostles money if they would sell to him the Holy Ghost.

What an infamous notoriety Demas has obtained, who loved the present evil world!  How much damage did Alexander the coppersmith do to Paul?  “He did me much evil,” said he, “the Lord reward him according to his works.”  And yet that Alexander was once foremost in danger, and even exposed his own person in the theater at Ephesus, that he might rescue the apostle.  There are none so bad as those who once seemed to be good.  “If the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?”  That which is best when ripe is worst when rotten; liquor which is sweetest in one stage becomes sourest in another.  Let not him that putteth on his armor boast as though he putteth it off; for even common sense teaches you that it is not to begin but to continue to the end which marks the time of the child of God.

But we need not look to analogy and to mere common sense.  Scripture is plain enough. What says John?  “They went out from us.”  Why?  Were they ever saints?  Oh! no — “They went out from us, because they were not of us, for if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us, but they went out from us, that it might be manifest that they were not of us.”   They were no Christians, or else they had not thus apostatized.  Peter saith, “It hath happened unto them according to the proverb, the dog hath returned to its vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire,” indicating at once most clearly that the dog, though it did vomit, always was a dog.  When men disgorge their sins unwillingly, not giving them up because they dislike them, but because they cannot retain them, if a favorable time comes, they will return to swallow once more what they seemed to abandon.  The sow that was washed — ay, bring it into the parlor, introduce it among society; it was washed, and well-washed too; whoever saw so respectable a member of the honorable confraternity of swine before?  Bring it in!  Yes, but will you keep it there?  Wait and see.  Because you have not transformed it into a man, on the first occasion it will be found wallowing in the mire.  Why?  Because it was not a man, but a sow.  And so we think we may learn from multitudes of other passages, if we had time to quote them, that those who go back into perdition are not saints at all, for perseverance is the badge of the righteous.  “The righteous shalt hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.”  We not only get life by faith, but faith sustains it: “the just shall live by faith;” “but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

What we have learned from Scripture, dear friends, has been abundantly confirmed by observation.  Every day would I bless God that in so numerous a Church we have comparatively so few who have proved false; but I have seen enough, and the Lord knoweth, more than enough, to make me very jealous over you with a godly jealousy.  I could tell of many an instance of men and women who did run well.  “What did hinder them that they should not obey the truth?”  I remember a young man of whom I thought as favorably as of any of you, and I believe he did at that time deserve our favorable judgment.  He walked among us, one of the most hopeful of our sons, and we hoped that God would make him serviceable to his cause.  He fell into bad company.  There was enough conscience left, after a long course of secret sin, to make him feel uncomfortable in his wickedness, though he did not give it up; and when at last his sin stared him in the face, and others knew it, so ashamed was he, that, though he bore the Christian name, he took poison that he might escape the shame which he had brought upon himself.  He was rescued — rescued by skill and the good providence of God; but where he is, and what he is, God only knoweth, for he had taken another poison more deadly still which made him the slave of his own lusts.

Do not think it is the young alone, however.  It is a very lamentable fact that there are, in proportion, more backslidings among the old than the young; and, if you want to find a great sinner in that respect, you will find him, surely, nine times out of ten, with grey hairs on his head.   Have I not frequently mentioned that you do not find in Scripture, many cases of young people going astray?  You do find believers sinning, but were they all old men?  There is Noah — no youth.  There is Lot, when drunken — no child.  There is David with Bathsheba, — no young man in the heat of passion.  There is Peter denying his Lord — no boy at the time.  These were men of experience and knowledge and wisdom.  “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

With sorrow do we remember one whom, years ago, we heard pray among us, and sweetly too, esteemed and trusted by us all.  I remember a dear brother saying very kindly, but not too wisely, “If he is not a child of God, I am not.”  But what did he, my brethren, to our shame and sorrow, but go aside to the very worst and foulest of sins, and where is he now?  Perhaps the ale-house may tell or worse places still.  So have we seen that earth’s sun may be eclipsed, earth’s stars may go out, and all human glory melt into shame.  No true child of God perishes — hold that fast; but this is the badge of a true child of God: that a man endures to the end.  And if a man does not hold on, but slinks back to his old master, and once again fits on the old collar, and wears again the Satanic yoke, there is sure proof that he has never come out of the spiritual Egypt through Jesus Christ, his leader, and hath never obtained that eternal life which cannot die, because it is born of God.  I have thus then, dear friends, said enough to prove, I think, beyond dispute, that the true badge of the Christian is perseverance, and that without it, no man has proved himself to be a child of God.

II. Secondly, PERSEVERANCE IS THEREFORE THE TARGET OF ALL OUR SPIRITUAL ENEMIES.

We have many adversaries. Look at the world! The world does not object to our being Christians for a time; it will cheerfully overlook all misdemeanors in that way, if we will now shake hands and be as we used to be.  Your old companions who used to call you such good fellows when you were bad fellows, would they not very readily forgive you for having been Christians if you would just go back and be as in days gone by?  Oh! certainly, they would look upon your religion as a freak of folly, but they would very easily overlook it if you would give it up for the future.  “O!” saith the world, “come back; come back to my arms once more; be enamored of me, and though thou hast spoken some hard words against me and done some cruel deeds against me, I will cheerfully forgive thee.”

The world is always stabbing at the believer’s perseverance.  Sometimes she will bully him back; she will persecute him with her tongue — cruel mockings shall be used; and at another time, she will cozen [cajole] him, “Come thou back to me; O come thou back!  Wherefore should we disagree?  Thou art made for me, and I am made for thee!”  And she beckons so gently and so sweetly, even as Solomon’s harlot of old.  This is the one thing with her that thou shouldst cease to be a pilgrim and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair.

Your second enemy, the flesh. What is its aim?  “Oh! “cries the flesh, “we have had enough of this; it is weary work being a pilgrim, come, give it up.”  Sloth says, “Sit still where thou art.  Enough is as good as a feast at least of this tedious thing.”  Then lust crieth, “Am I always to be mortified?  Am I never to be indulged?  Give me at least, a furlough from this constant warfare?”  The flesh cares not how soft the chain, so that it does but hold us fast and prevent our pressing on to glory.

Then comes in the devil, and sometimes be beats the big drum and cries with a thundering voice, “There is no heaven; there is no God; you are a fool to persevere.”  Or, changing his tactics, he cries, “Come back!  I will give thee a better treatment than thou hadst before.  Thou thought me a hard master, but that was misrepresentation; come and try me; I am a different devil from what I was ten years ago; I am respectable to what I was then.  I do not want you to go back to the low theater or the casino; come with me, and be a respectable lover of pleasure.   I tell thee, I can dress in broad cloth as well as in corduroy, and I can walk in the courts of kings, as well as in the courts and alleys of the beggar.”  “O come back!” he saith, “and make thyself one of mine.”  So that this hellish trinity, the world, the flesh, and the devil, all stab at the Christian’s perseverance.

His perseverance in service they will frequently attack: “What profit is there in serving God?  The devil will say to me sometimes, as he did to Jonah, “Flee thou unto Tarshish and do not stop in this Nineveh; they will not believe thy word, though thou speak in God’s name.”  To you he will say, “Why, you are so busy all the six days of the week, what is the good of spending your Sunday with a parcel of noisy brats in a Sunday School? Why go about with those tracts in the streets?  Much good you will get from it.  Would not you be better with having a little rest?”  Ah! that word rest — some of us are very fond of it; but we ought to recollect that we spoil it if we try to get it here, for rest is only beyond the grave.  We shall have rest enough when once we come into the presence of our Lord.  Perseverance in service, then, the devil would murder outright.

If he cannot stay us in service, he will try to prevent our perseverance in suffering.  “Why be patient any longer?” says he; “why sit on that dunghill, scraping your sores with a potsherd? — curse God, and die.  You have been always poor since you have been a Christian; your business does not prosper; you see, you cannot make money unless you do as others do.  You must go with the times, or else you will not get on.  Give it all up.  Why be always suffering like this?”  Thus the foul spirit tempts us.  Or you may have espoused some good cause, and the moment you open your mouth, many laugh and try to put you down.  “Well,” says the devil, “why be put down — what is the use of it?  Why make yourself singularly eccentric, and expose yourself to perpetual martyrdom?  It is all very nice,” saith he, “if you will be a martyr, to be burnt at once and have done with it; but to hang, like Lord Cobham, to be roasted over a slow fire for days, is not comfortable.”  “Why,” saith the tempter, “why be always suffering? — give it up.”  You see, then, it is also perseverance in suffering which the devil shooteth at.  Or, perhaps, it is perseverance in steadfastness.  The love of many has waxed cold, but you remain zealous.  “Well,” saith he, “what is the good of your being so zealous?  Other people are good enough people, you could not censure them: why do you want to be more righteous than they are?  Why should you be pushing the Church before you, and dragging the world behind you?  What need is there for you to go two marches in one day?  Is not one enough?  Do as the rest do; loiter as they do.  Sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as other virgins do.”  Thus is our perseverance in steadfastness frequently assailed.

Or else, it will be our doctrinal sentiments.  “Why,” says Satan, “do you hold to these denominational creeds?  Sensible men are getting more liberal, they are giving away what does not belong to them — God’s truth; they are removing the old landmarks.  Acts of uniformity are to be repealed, articles and creeds are to be laid aside as useless lumber, not necessary for this very enlightened age; fall in with this, and be an ‘Anythingarian.’  Believe that black is white; hold that truth and a lie are very much akin to one another, and that it does not matter which we do believe, for we are all of us right, though we flatly contradict each other; that the Bible is a nose of wax to fit any face; that it does not teach anything material, but you may make it say anything you like.”  “Do that,” saith he, “and be no longer firm in your opinion.”

I think I have proved — and need not waste more words about it — that perseverance is the target for all enemies.  Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armor, and cry mightily unto God, that by his Spirit you may endure to the end.

III. Thirdly, brethren, PERSEVERANCE IS THE GLORY OF CHRIST.

That he makes all his people persevere to the end is greatly to his honor.  If they should fall away and perish, every office, and work, and attribute of Christ would be stained in the mire.  If any one child of God should perish, where were Christ’s covenant engagements?  What is he worth as a mediator of the covenant and the surety of it, if he hath not made the promises sure to all the seed?  My brethren, Christ is made a leader and commander of the people, to bring many souls into glory; but if he doth not bring them into glory, where is the captain’s honor?  Where is the efficacy of the precious blood, if it does not effectually redeem?  If it only redeemeth for a time and then suffereth us to perish, where is its value?  If it only blots out sin for a few weeks, and then permits that sin to return and to remain upon us, where, I say, is the glory of Calvary, and where is the luster of the wounds of Jesus?  He lives, he lives to intercede, but how can I honor his intercession, if it be fruitless?  Does he not pray, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am;” and, if they be not finally brought to be with him where he is, where is the honor of his intercession?  Hath not the Pleader failed, and the great Mediator been dismissed without success?  Is he not at this day in union with his people?   But what is the value of union to Christ if that union does not insure salvation?  Is he not today at the right hand of God, preparing a place for his saints; and will he prepare a place for them, and then lose them on the road?  Oh! can it be that he procures the harp and the crown, and will not save souls to use them?  My brethren, the perishing of one true child of God, would be such dishonor to Jesus that I cannot think of it without considering it as blasphemy.

One true believer in hell!  Oh! what laughter in the pit — what defiance, what unholy mirth! “Ah! Prince of life and glory,” saith the prince of the pit, “I have defeated thee; I have snatched the prey from the mighty and the lawful captive I have delivered; I have torn a jewel from thy crown.  See, here it is!  Thou didst redeem this soul with blood, and yet it is in hell.”  Hear what Satan cries — “Christ suffered for this soul, and yet God makes it suffer for itself.  Where is the justice of God?  Christ came from heaven to earth to save this soul, and failed in the attempt, and I have him here;” and as he plunges that soul into deeper waves of woe, the shout of triumph goes up more and more blasphemously — “We have conquered heaven!  We have rent the eternal covenant; we have foiled the purposes of God; we have defeated his decree; we have triumphed over the power of the Mediator and cast his blood to the ground!”  Shall it ever be?  Atrocious question!  It can never be.  They who are in Christ are saved.  They whom Jesus Christ hath really taken into union with himself shall be with him where he is.  But how are you to know whether you are in union with Christ?  My brethren, you can only know it by obeying the apostle’s words, “Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure.”

IV. I close, therefore, with but a hint on the last point, PERSEVERANCE SHOULD BE THE GREAT CARE OF EVERY CHRISTIAN — his daily and his nightly care.

O beloved!  I conjure you by the love of God and by the love of your own souls, be faithful unto death.  Have you difficulties?  You must conquer them.  Hannibal crossed the Alps, for his heart was full of fury against Rome; and you must cross the Alps of difficulty, for I trust your heart is full of hatred of sin.  When Mr. Smeaton had built the lighthouse upon the Eddystone, he looked out anxiously after a storm to see if the edifice was still there, and it was his great joy when he could see it still standing, for a former builder had constructed an edifice which he thought to be indestructible, and expressed a wish that he might be in it in the worst storm which ever blew, and he was so, and neither he nor his lighthouse were ever seen afterwards.

Now you have to be exposed to multitudes of storms; you must be in your lighthouse in the worst storm which ever blew; build firmly then on the Rock of Ages, and make sure work for eternity, for if you do these things, ye shall never fall.  For this Church’s sake, I pray you do it; for nothing can dishonor and weaken a Church so much as the falls of professors.  A thousand rivers flow to the sea and make rich the meadows, but no man heareth the sound thereof; but if there be one cataract, its roaring will be heard for miles and every traveler will mark the fall.  A thousand Christians can scarcely do such honor to their Master as one hypocrite can do dishonor to him.  If you have ever tasted that the Lord is gracious, pray that your foot slip not.  It would be infinitely better to bury you in the earth than to see you buried in sin.  If I must be lost, God grant it may not be as an apostate.  If I must, after all, perish, were it not better never to have known the way of righteousness than after having known the theory of it, and something of the enjoyment of it, to turn again to the beggarly elements of the world?  Let your prayer be not against death, but against sin.  For your own sake, for the Church’s sake, for the name of Christ’s sake, I pray you do this.

But ye cannot persevere except by much watchfulness in the closet, much carefulness over every action, much dependence upon the strong hand of the Holy Spirit who alone can make you stand.  Walk and live as in the sight of God, knowing where your great strength lieth, and, depending upon it, you shall yet sing that sweet doxology in Jude, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.”  A simple faith brings the soul to Christ; Christ keeps the faith alive; that faith enables the believer to persevere, and so he enters heaven.  May that be your lot and mine for Christ’s sake.  Amen.

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