Blessed Assurance
Among the many privileges of being a born again Christian is the assurance that God has forgiven my sins, He has accepted me and given me the promise of a blessed hope beyond this life. Provided my repentance has been genuine and I have a sincere desire to please the Lord, I can rejoice in the assurance that my many sins have been pardoned. God has declared me not guilty and I can delight myself in the abundance of His peace (Psalm 37:11).
How is this blessed assurance to be gained? We will consider three sure foundations on which a blessed life is based. They are God's WORD to us, His WORK for us and His WITNESS in our hearts.
Firstly, we find in God's WORD exceeding great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1:3,4), teaching us that God is merciful; indeed, we are told that He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18) and that He is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4). The Psalmist refers to the multitude of His tender mercies (Psalm 69:16). There is nothing niggardly about God's desire to pardon sinners; He is lavish in His kindness. In His Word, God goes to great lengths to assure us of His abundant pardon (Isaiah 55:8). He uses such expressions as - As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:2) and our sins being cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) and being blotted out. Isaiah 1:18 and Psalm 51:7 assure the believer that he can be made whiter than snow. To everyone who has put their trust in the Lord Jesus, God pronounces them not guilty and promises them that their sins and their iniquities He will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17). With such clear and consistent promises from God's Word, surely the believer, resting on these promises, may rejoice that his name is written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
What is the source of God's ability to forgive sinners and yet, at the same time, to maintain His justice? The answer is God's WORK for us at the Cross where the Lord Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). It is enriching for the believer to dwell constantly on what was accomplished for him at Calvary. Many Scriptures tell us how God expressed His love for us when He made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). The apostle Paul, who described himself as the worst of sinners, described the mission of the Lord Jesus in 1 Timothy 1:15 in these words, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If God can save the worst of sinners, there is hope for all men in the work of the Cross.
Let us now consider the WITNESS in my own heart of God's acceptance and my salvation. Before the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He promised His disciples that it was expedient, or better for them, that He should go away, in order that the Holy Spirit would come and live within them (John 16:7). He wanted them to enjoy His indwelling presence or, as Paul writes in Colossians 1:27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. In Romans 8:16 we learn that The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. John also assures us that He who believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself (1 John 5:19).
This witness is maintained as we walk in the light in loving obedience to our heavenly Father, who has provided all that we need in order to enjoy this blessed assurance of our salvation - His WORD to us, His WORK for us and His WITNESS in our hearts. Let us then recognize all that God has done for us; let us receive and rejoice in it.
This article was written by Pastor Geoffrey Davies. He is a frequent contributor to this column. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he pastored a church for over twenty-five years. Since 1983 he has travelled widely, continuing his ministry of encouragement and Bible teaching.
