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TOPIC: Pink, Arthur - Studies in the Scriptures 1932 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 1932 - 11 November contd
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PRAYER
The Spirit of God exhorts the saints at least three times definitely in the New Testament
to pray. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1); “Pray without
ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17); “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy
hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Tim. 2:8). This means no more and no less than
that the life of God’s people should be a life of continual prayer. Prayer is the most
mighty power in the Christian life under every circumstance, and the records of Scripture
and history tell us that the meekest and strongest Christian, is the praying Christian.
Prayer is not a matter of one or three times a day, but of every moment of the day, and
every moment of a sleepless night. If we realized that the child of God in prayer is in
close communion with God, with the Almighty Himself, then it will be clear to every one
of us what a mighty power and weapon prayer is. If we are in close communion with
God, we are in our appointed place; God has the place in our hearts which He rightly
owns, and we please Him. Prayer means: to be in the dust before a thrice holy God on
His throne, and in fear and holy reverence speaking with Him, pleading with Him, begging
from Him, through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26), on the righteous claim which we
have through the precious blood of Him, the only-begotten Son, who gave us access into
the Holiest (Heb. 10:19, 20). It is prayer when we approach God to unburden our hearts,
plead His promises, and ask for the things we need.
Now it is a sad fact that many of the prayers (so called) from God’s children do not
go higher than the ceiling of the room where they are uttered, for the simple reason that
many prayers are no prayers at all—especially when uttered in company, at prayermeetings.
How many of these prayers are only workings of the flesh, to make a fair show
before the fellow saints!—to express Scriptural knowledge, to rebuke (or worse, sneer at)
a fellow-saint; or dictate to God what He should do or not do. No lowliness of heart, no
meekness of the spirit, but a proud and haughty attitude, often prevails in such meetings.
The Holy Spirit is grieved and insulted, and quenched in the babes of Christ. An aged
saint told me some years ago: Brother, if you want to find out Christians, go to the
prayer-meetings!
As for private prayer, prayer in the closet, let every one of us examine himself how
we in the past did approach God, and how many things we pleaded and asked whereby
we, instead of honouring the Holy One, insulted Him. Well may we cry: “Lord teach us
to pray” (Luke 11:1). Holy Writ teaches us that we must pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude
20): “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). Although
every child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he is not always in the Spirit; for many
times the Holy Spirit is grieved through sin. How we need, beloved brethren and sisters,
the exhortation in Ephesians 4:30-32: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.”
I have been in homes and in prayer-meetings where people were reading the newspaper
and talking the gossip of the day, till the so-called leader suggested, Brethren, let us begin
to pray. Awful!
When we have grieved the Spirit, it is first of all needful to confess and forsake our
sins before God (Prov. 28:13). Then we need to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance (Rom.
8:26, 27), that we should not use vain and idle words, which only condemn us and insult
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God. It is many times regarded as very spiritual to hear a long prayer from a man. But the
humble and true saint knows that, when we are really in the Spirit before a holy God on
our knees, that as a rule we have not many words to use, although the heart is full; and
also that, when we pray in the flesh, we have so many words that we hardly know how to
stop. It will be good for every one of us to be reminded of the words from our Lord Jesus
Christ: “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do . . . be not ye therefore
like unto them” (Matt. 6:7, 8). Prayer as well as worship must be in Spirit and in Truth.
There must be a spiritual realization that we are before a thrice holy God; there must be a
holy fear whereby we know that we cannot deceive God. We must be true, honest, and
searching ourselves in the Truth; because we are liable to deceive ourselves and stand
before God as liars. Prayer is a very solemn thing, beloved fellow-heirs.
It is good for us to observe that which is found in what is called the “Lord’s Prayer”
in Matthew 6. This prayer gives us an example for shortness, and begins and ends with
worship. In verse 9 God is addressed as “Father,” and given honour and reverence. In
verse 13 the prayer closes with honouring Him in His “kingdom, power and glory.” If we
approach God in prayer while in agony of bodily pain, or in agony of soul; in sorrow of
bereavement, in pleading for our brethren with tears, or in need of temporal things or
having a heart full of joy for the great things the Lord has done for us:—we must approach
Him in the Spirit, in lowliness and in humiliation; and there must be faith. For
“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” (Heb. 11:6). Volumes
could be written on the subject of prayer, but I believe for the child of God there are three
points which he should specially take to heart for effective and prevailing prayer, in
which God is honoured. First, what it means to pray in the name of Christ. Second, the
importance of pleading the promises. Third, what are the things we need most to pray
for?
Before our Lord was crucified and ascended to the Father, the people of God, even
His disciples, did not pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the last conversation
with the disciples, the Lord knowing that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of the world unto the Father, told them He would send the Spirit of truth (the Comforter,
the Holy Spirit) and that whatsoever they should ask in His name, that would He
do, that the Father might be glorified in the Son (John 14:13). And a little later He said,
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may
be full” (John 16:24). All this was to be after His departure, when the Holy Spirit should
dwell in them, and teach them through the fully revealed Word (1 John 2:27; John 17:17).
It will be a matter of simple truth and need for the child of God when he bows down in
prayer, that he begins by honouring God the Father. But we cannot honour God, when we
pass by the Son! For it is written, “That all men should honour the Son, even as they
honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath
sent Him” (John 5:23). In other words, we have in prayer to acknowledge and honour the
Son, otherwise we do not honour God, and He will not hear our prayer. Further: how do
we know God as our Father? Through the Son: “Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27).
Multitudes know God, but not God the Father, because they do not know the Son.
God’s elect were “predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will . . . In whom (that is Jesus Christ) we have re19
demption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”
(Eph. 1:5, 7). We are redeemed by the blood of Christ, by which we receive the adoption
of sons; and by the Spirit of adoption we cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). Because we
have received the spirit of a child, we know the Father. Moreover, Christ Jesus is appointed
by God our High Priest: “who hath entered into Heaven itself, to appear in the
presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24); seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
because He was in all parts tempted like we are (yet in Him was no sin, He was
spotless, undefiled);—”let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16). He is our Advocate
with the Father, as Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). If we want to approach God in
prayer, we have to do this through the Son, in the name of the Son: “no man cometh unto
the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). He is “the door” for the sheep.
It is very important in prayer to plead the promises of God. This will be plain when
we read that “all the promises of God in Him (in Christ) are yea, and in Him Amen, unto
the glory of God by us (2 Cor. 1:20). Exceeding great and precious are these promises
which are given unto us by God’s Divine power, being added to the all things which pertain
unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue: so that by these promises “ye might be partakers of the Divine nature having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3, 4). It is by experimentally
enjoying these promises that we indeed, in a practical way, become partakers of
the Divine nature; and this cannot be before we have also in a practical way escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. This will make it plain that conditions of responsibility
are bound up with the promises of God, and that these conditions must be
fulfilled by us in purpose of heart before we can plead, receive, and enjoy the promises. It
is no use to plead a promise from God while we willfully and purposely walk against the
will of God. For instance, in 2 Corinthians 7:1 we read, “Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from a filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” It must be clear to every unbiased mind that here
are conditions laid down if we want to enjoy experimentally these promises. And what
are “these promises” here spoken of? See 2 Corinthians 6:18, “And I will be Father unto
you, and ye shall be My sons and My daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” The condition
for being able to enjoy experimentally these promises is: Cleanse ourselves, thus perfecting
holiness in the fear of God; and this means practical separation from all that is not of
God (see 2 Cor. 6:14 to 17).
The promise of the Lord’s return and redemption of the body is for them who fulfill
the condition laid down in Hebrews 9:28: “unto them that look for Him shall He appear
the second time without sin unto salvation.” We are His friends if we do whatsoever He
commands us (John 15:14). His promise is: He will give, and open to us; but we must ask
and knock; (Matt. 7:7, 8). It is rather marvelous to hear true children of God pleading
promises from God without taking heed to the conditions of responsibility which are
bound up with every promise. The promise for the unregenerated man not to perish and
have everlasting life is: that he must “believe” (John 3:15, 16). Who hath everlasting life?
He that believeth on the Son (John 3:36). It is only when the sinner believes, that he experimentally
enjoys the promise of everlasting life. And as for believers, they who are
God’s children, He forgiveth our sins and cleanseth us from all unrighteousness if we
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confess our sins (1 John 1:9). Who shall have mercy? He who confesseth and forsaketh
his sins (Prov. 28:13). The promise of being blessed is given repeatedly in Holy Writ. But
who will be “blessed”? He that considereth the poor (Psa. 41:1); he that is poor in spirit;
the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, etc. (see Matt. 5:3 to 11). He will keep him in
perfect peace. Whom? “Whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee” (Isa.
26:3). The Lord said to Abram, “I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee”;
but the condition was, “Get thee out” (Gen. 12:1, 2). The Lord’s promise is, that He will
honour thee, if thou honourest Him (1 Sam. 2:30).
It is very needful for God’s people to study the promises of God that we may know
what to ask in prayer. Many things are asked in prayer which God never promised, and
many promises are asked while we are totally ignorant of the claims of God bound up
with them. One of the conditions in prayer is, that we should ask according to God’s will;
and when we do so, we have His promise that “He heareth us” (1 John 5:14). We must
not ask the fulfilling of any promise to consume it on our own lusts, but always ask it to
the glory of God. And it is needful that we should have fulfilled in purpose and determination
of heart, the conditions, the responsibility, which is bound up with the promise we
ask for.
And “According to your faith be unto you” (Matt. 9:29). “If ye have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matt. 17:20). The promises of
God are great, “Exceeding great,” and never too great that we could not ask for, or God
would not give. But at the same time we have to remember that conditions of our responsibility
are inseparably bound up with them. God does not give like a foolish father to a
spoiled child. O, no, Brethren, God is holy, and never will He sanction sin. He may show
mercy to us, and He does—otherwise all of us would be consumed; but His command is,
“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” (Isa. 52:11).
What are the things we most need to pray for in these days of corruption, selfishness,
and exaltation of man? What should we specially pray for in these last days, when individual
faithfulness to God alone has value? First of all let me take it for granted that God
is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe; that He is the Giver of all good and perfect
things; that we are only poor worms, at His entire mercy, and consequently we have to
ask for everything—bread and water, as well as desired fellowship with our brethren and
sisters; for “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). But the child of
God, as belonging to the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13), and being still in the
world, although he belongs not to it (John 17:16), is commanded to be holy as God is
holy (1 Peter 1:16). And as such, there are special things he needs to pray for. 1. A holy
life, which in a practical way means obeying the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ—
”Follow Me.” And if we truly are desirous of following Him, we need first of all, meekness
and lowliness in heart and spirit. Thus should we pray that God will cause us daily,
hourly, momently, to come to Christ and take His yoke upon us and learn of Him (Matt.
11:29).
2. As our heart is still prone to be deceitful and desperately wicked, so that we do not
know what is in it, we need to pray, “Search me O God, and know my heart: try me, and
know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”
(Psa. 139:23). 3. As each of us is very ignorant of the statutes of the Lord, and
especially of the way to walk in them, we need to pray “Teach me O Lord, the way of
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Thy statutes” (Psa. 119:33). 4. As we all know, or ought to know, the commandments
given to us in Holy Writ, but fail to keep them as the Lord bids, we have to pray, “Make
me to go in the path of Thy commandments” (Psa. 119:35). 5. God’s children read His
Word, but show repeatedly by their actions that they do not really believe it. The reason
of which is that God’s Word is not established, or rooted in their hearts. Therefore we
have to pray, “establish Thy Word unto Thy servant” (Psa. 119:38). 6. We claim to have
faith in God, but when our faith is put to the test we mostly fail miserably. Therefore we
should pray, Lord, increase my faith, purify, refine it, that it may prove able to remove
mountains, and to rejoice in the Lord although I should be desolate like Job (see Habakkuk
3:17, 18). 7. As God’s children we are predestinated and called to be conformed to
the image of God’s Son (Rom. 8:29), but in our daily lives we are all far from it, otherwise
we should be more hated and despised like Christ. We have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin (Heb. 12:4). Therefore we should pray, Father, make us more
and more conformed to the image of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The praying for these things in the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ, will experimentally
prove the truth of “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things (for our daily common needs) shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33 and
context). God giveth always more than we ask for, and I firmly believe that in the life of
the Christian everything hangs on the needful qualities as mentioned in these seven
points.
Now for a short summary of seven other points which are requisite for effectual and
prevailing prayer. 1. Separation from all known sins, by confessing and forsaking these in
purpose of heart. If we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us (Psa. 66:18);
if He did, He would be sanctioning sin. 2. Entire dependence upon the finished work of
Christ and pleading His precious blood (Heb. 10:10, 1 John 1:7). 3. We must ask the
Spirit of God to lead us in prayer, pray for us; for we know not what we should pray for
as we ought (Rom. 8:26). 4. Faith in God’s Word and His promises. Not to believe Him
is to make Him a liar or perjurer (Heb. 11:6, John 3:33). 5. Asking according to His will
(1 John 5:14). We must not seek a gift from God to consume it upon our own lust (James
4:3). 6. We must offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, this is the fruit of our
lips, giving thanks in His name (Heb. 13:15). Prayer as well as worship must be in Spirit
and Truth; if not, it is of the flesh, and is a lie. 7. There must be waiting on God, waiting
for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest (James 5:7; Luke
18:1 to 8). By A. Klooster. (Engaged in evangelistic work in Holland: looking to the Lord
alone for the supply of every need. A.W.P.)
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ASSURANCE
III. Its Attainment.
In writing to a company of the saints an Apostle was inspired to declare, “Being confident
of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform (or
“finish”) it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). That is what distinguishes the regenerate
children of God from empty professors, from those who while having a “name to
live” are really spiritually dead (Rev. 3:1). This is what differentiates true Christians from
deluded ones. And in what does this “good work” which is “begun” within the saved consist?
It is variously described in different Scriptures. It is the heart being purified by faith
(Acts 15:9). It is the love of God being shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom.
5:5). It is the laws of God being written in their hearts (Heb. 8:10). Thus, the nature of
Christian assurance is a well-founded knowledge that I am a child of God. The basis of
this assurance that there is an unmistakable agreement between my character, experience,
and life, and the description which Holy Writ furnishes of the characters, experiences and
lives of God’s children. Therefore, the attainment of assurance is by an impartial scrutiny
of myself and an honest comparing of myself with the Scriptural marks of God’s children.
A reliable and satisfactory assurance can only be attained or reached by means of a
thorough self-examination. “O therefore, Christians, rest not till you can call this rest
your own. Sit not down without assurance. Get alone, and bring thy heart to the bar of
trial: force it to answer the interrogatories put to it to set the qualifications of the saints on
one side, and the qualifications of thy self on the other side, and then judge what resemblance
there is between them. Thou hast the same Word before thee, by which to judge
thyself now, as thou shalt be judged by at the great day. Thou mayest there read the very
articles upon which thou shalt be tried; try thyself by these articles now. Thou mayest
there know beforehand on what terms men shall then be acquitted or condemned. Try
now whether thou art possessed of that which will acquit thee, or whether thou be in the
condition of those that will be condemned; and accordingly acquit or condemn thyself.
Yet be sure thou judge by a true touchstone, and mistake not the Scripture description of
a saint, that thou neither acquit nor condemn thyself by mistake” (The Saint’s Everlasting
Rest, Rich. Baxter, 1680).
The need for such self-examination is indeed great, for multitudes are deceived; quite
sure that they are Christians, yet without the marks of one. “They say they are saved, and
they stick to it they are, and think it wicked to doubt it; but yet they have no reason to
warrant their confidence. There is a great difference between presumption and full assurance.
Full assurance is reasonable: it is based on solid ground. Presumption takes for
granted, and with brazen face pronounces that to be its own to which it has no right whatever.
Beware, I pray thee, of presuming that thou art saved. If thy heart be renewed, if
thou shalt hate the things that thou didst once love, and love the things that thou didst
once hate; if thou hast really repented; if there be a thorough change of mind in thee; if
thou be born again, then hast thou reason to rejoice: but if there be no vital change, no
inward godliness; if there be no love to God, no prayer, no work of the Holy Spirit, then
thy saying `I am saved’ is but thine own assertion, and it may delude, but it will not deliver
thee” (C. H. Spurgeon on 1 Chron. 4:10).
O what efforts Satan puts forth to keep people from this vitally important and allnecessary
work of self-examination. He knows full well that if many of his deceived vic23
tims set about the task in earnest, they would soon discover that no miracle of Divine
grace has been wrought in them, and that this would cause them to seek the Lord with all
their hearts. He knows too that real Christians would gain much advantage against the
power of indwelling sin would they but thoroughly search their own hearts. Many are
diverted from this wholesome work by the evil example set by so many who now bear the
name of Christ. Not a few argue, If he or she (that claims to have been a Christian so
much longer and appears to know the Bible so much better), who is so worldly, so governed
by “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” is sure he is
bound for Heaven, why should I be concerned?
But the state of men’s hearts is what holds so many back from the discharge of this
duty. Some are so ignorant that they know not what self-examination is, nor what a servant
of God means when he seeks to persuade them to “prove your own selves” (2 Cor.
13:5). Others are so much in love with sin and have such a dislike for the holy ways of
God, they dare not venture on the trial of their state, lest they should be forced from the
course they so much relish, to one which they hate. Others are so taken up with their
worldly affairs, and are so busy providing for themselves and their families they say, “I
pray Thee have me excused” (Luke 14:18). Others are so slothful that they cannot be induced
on any consideration to be at those pains which are necessary in order to know
their own hearts.
Pride holds many back. They think highly of themselves. They are so sure of their
salvation, so thoroughly convinced that all is right between their souls and God, they
deem any search after proof, and testing of themselves by Scripture to see if they have the
marks of those who are “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” as quite unnecessary and superfluous.
They have been brought up in a religious atmosphere where none of those professing
the name of Christ expressed any doubts about their state. They have been taught
that such doubtings are of the Devil, a calling into question the veracity of God’s Word.
They have heard so many affirm “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” they felt it their duty
to echo the same, forgetting that he who first uttered those words (Job 19:25) was one of
whom God said, “There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one
that feareth God, and escheweth evil” (Job 1:8).
Tens of thousands have been taught that it is wrong for the Christian to look within
himself, and they have blindly followed the advice of such physicians “of no value.”
How can it be wrong for me to examine my heart to see whether or not God has written
His laws upon it (Heb. 8:10)? How can it be wrong for me to look and see whether or not
God has begun a “good work” in me (Phil. 1:6)? How can it be wrong for me to test myself
by the Parable of the Sower to see which of its four soils represents my heart? How
can it be wrong to measure myself by the Parable of the Virgins, and ascertain whether or
not the “oil” of regenerating and sanctifying grace is within the “vessel” of my soul
(Matt. 25:4)? Since God Himself declares, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of His” (Rom. 8:9), how can it be wrong for me to make sure that I am indwelt by
Him?
Rightly did an eminent Puritan say, The Scripture abounds in commands and cautions
for our utmost diligence in our search and inquiry, whether we are made partakers of
Christ or not, or whether His Spirit dwell in us or not; which argue both the difficulty of
attaining an assured confidence herein, as also the danger of our being mistaken, and yet
the certainty of a good issue upon the diligent and regular use of means to that purpose”
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(John Owen on Heb. 3:14, 1670). Alas, this is what has been so strenuously opposed by
many during the last two or three generations. An easy-going religion, well calculated to
be acceptable unto the slothful, has been zealously propagated, representing the salvation
of the soul and assurance of the same as a very simple matter.
It is very evident to one who has been taught of God that the vast majority of presentday
evangelists, tract-writers and “personal workers,” do not believe one-half of what
Holy Writ declares concerning the spiritual impotency of the natural man, or the absolute
necessity of a miracle of grace being wrought within him before he can savingly turn to
Christ. Instead, they erroneously imagine that fallen man is a “free moral agent,” possessing
equal power to accept Christ as to reject Him. They suppose all that is needed is information
and coercion: to preach the Gospel and persuade men to believe it. But have
they never heard of the Holy Spirit? O yes, and say they believe that only He can effectually
convict of sin and regenerate. But do their actions agree with this? They certainly
do not, for not only is there practically no definite waiting upon God and an earnest seeking
from Him the power of His Spirit, but they sally forth and speak and write to the
unsaved as if the Holy Spirit had no existence.
Now just as it is plainly implied by such “novices” that lost sinners can receive Christ
any time they make up their minds to do so, just as they are constantly told that nothing
more is needed than to believe that Christ died for them and rest on John 3:16 and salvation
is theirs, so the idea has been inculcated that the professing Christian may enjoy the
full assurance of faith any time he wishes and that nothing more is required for this than
to “rest on John 5:24” etc. One verse of Holy Scripture is sufficient to give the lie to this
popular delusion: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God” (Rom. 8:16). If the written promises of God were sufficient of themselves
to produce assurance, then what need is there for the third person of the Godhead to “bear
witness” with the spirit of the Christian that he is a child of God?
As this verse is virtually given no place at all in modern ministry, let us ponder its
terms: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
The clear implication of these words is that the actual existence of the saint’s sonship is,
at times at least, a matter of painful uncertainty, and that the supernatural agency of the
Spirit is required to authenticate the fact, and thus allay all fear. To be fully assured of the
amazing fact that God is my spiritual Father, demands something more than the testimony
of our own feelings or the opinion of men; and, let us reverently add, something
more than resting upon a Divine promise. Millions have “rested on” the words “this is
My body,” and no argument could persuade them that the bread upon the Lord’s table
was not actually changed into Christ’s literal flesh.
Who so competent to authenticate the work of the Spirit in the heart as the Spirit
Himself? What, then, is the merit of His testimony? Not by visions and voices, nor by
any direct inspiration of new revelation of truth. Not by bringing some verse of Scripture
(of which I was not thinking) vividly before the mind, that my heart is made to leap for
joy. If the Christian had no surer grounds that that to stand upon, he might with despair.
Satan can bring a verse of Scripture before the mind (Matt. 4:6), and produce in his victims
strong emotions of joy, and impart a false peace to his soul. Therefore the witness of
the Spirit to be decisive and conclusive, must be something which the Devil cannot duplicate.
And what is that? This: Satan cannot beget Divine grace and impart real holiness
to the heart.
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“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.” To “bear witness with” is a legal
term, and signifies to produce valid and convincing evidence. “Our spirit” here has reference
to the renewed conscience. Concerning natural men it is said, “which show the work
of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (Rom. 2:15). But
the conscience of the natural man is partial, dim-sighted, stupid. Grace makes it tender,
pliant, and more able to do its office. The desire of the regenerate man, and unto which
he exercises himself, is “to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and
men” (Acts 24:16). Where such a conscience is (by grace) maintained, we can say with
the Apostle, “This is our rejoicing (what? resting on John 3:16? No, but) the testimony of
our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity . . . we have had our conversation in
the world” (2 Cor. 1:12).
Was the beloved Paul off the right track when he found something in himself which
afforded ground for “rejoicing”? According to many present-day teachers (?) he was. It is
a great pity that these men do not give less attention to human writings, and more to the
Holy Scriptures, for then they would read “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his
own ways; and a good man shall be satisfied from himself” (Prov. 14:14). If that text be
despised because it is in the O. T., then we also read in the N. T. “but let every man prove
his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another” (Gal.
6:4). Once more, “Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth:
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him” (1
John 3:18, 19). What is the method which God here sets before His children for assuring
their hearts before Him? Not in telling them to appropriate one of His promises, but to
walk in the Truth, and then their own spirit will bear witness to their Divine sonship.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” In
addition to the testimony of a renewed conscience which is enjoyed by the Christian
when he (by grace) is walking in the Truth, the Spirit adds His confirmation. How? First,
He has laid down clear marks in the Scriptures by which we may settle the question: “For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14)—why tell
us this, if “resting on John 5:24” be all that is necessary? Second, by working such graces
in the saints as are peculiar to God’s children: in Galatians 5:22 these graces are expressly
designated “the fruit of the Spirit.” Third, by His spiritual consolation: “Walking
in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:31 and cf. Rom.
15:13). Fourth, by producing in the Christian the affections which dutiful children bear to
a wise and loving Parent (Rom. 8:15).
To sum up: the blessed Spirit witnesses along with our spirit that we are the children
of God by enabling us to discern (in the light of Scripture) the effects and fruits of His
supernatural operation within us. The breathings of the renewed heart after holiness, the
pantings after a fuller conformity to the image of Christ, the strivings against sin, are all
inspired by Him. Thus, by begetting in us the Divine nature, by teaching us to deny “ungodliness
and worldly lusts,” and to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world” (Titus 2:12), the Spirit conducts us to the sure conclusion that we are the children
of God. Thereby He shows us there is a real correspondency between our experience and
revealed truth. “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath
given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
IV. Its Subjects.
Under this head we propose to briefly consider the character of those persons to
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whom the privilege of Christian assurance rightfully belongs. Here again there are two
extremes to be guarded against. On the one hand is that class who have been deceived by
the slogan “believe you are saved, and you are saved,” which is best met by pointing out
that genuine assurance is never any greater than is our evidence of the same. On the other
hand are those who are fearful that such evidence is unattainable while the body of sin
indwells them. To such we would ask, Is it impossible to ascertain whether or not the
health of your body is sound? Are there not certain symptoms and signs which are a clear
index? If I were doubtful, and feared that some fatal disease was beginning to grip me, I
would seek a physician. Were he to merely look at me and then lightly say, Your health is
good, I would leave him and seek another more competent. I would request a thorough
overhauling: the taking of my blood-pressure, the sounding of my heart, the testing of my
other vital organs. So it should be with the soul.
In seeking to determine from God’s Word who are entitled to Christian assurance, let
us ask and answer a number of questions. Who are they with whom the great God
dwells? “with him also that is of (not an haughty and boastful, but) a contrite and humble
spirit” (Isa. 57:15); “to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at My Word” (Isa. 66:2)—do you? or do you joke over or argue
about its sacred contents? Whom does God really forgive? They who “repent” and are
“converted” (Acts 3:19), that is, they who turn their backs upon the world and sinful
practices, and yield to Him; those in whose hearts God puts His “laws” and writes them
in their minds, in consequence of which they love, meditate upon, and keep His commandments:
note how Hebrews 10:16 precedes 10:17!
Who is the man whom Christ likened unto one who built his house upon the rock?
Not merely him who “believes,” but “whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth
them” (Matt. 7:24). Who are truly born again? “Everyone that doeth righteousness” (1
John 2:29); they who “love the brethren” with such a love as is described in 1 John 3:17,
18. To whom does God experimentally reveal the eternal purpose of His grace? “The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psa.
25:14). “To him that ordereth his conservation aright will I show the salvation of God”
(Psa. 50:23). What are the identifying marks of a saving faith? One which “purifies the
heart” (Acts 15:9), “worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6), “overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4):
only thus may I know that my faith is a living and spiritual one.
The birth of the Spirit can only be known from its effects (John 3:8). Thus, it is by
comparing what God in His Word, has promised to do in His elect with what His Spirit
has, or has not, wrought in my heart, that I can ascertain whether assurance of salvation
be my legitimate portion. This is “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:13).
Wondrous things has God prepared “for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9); how important
then for me to make sure that I love Him. Many suppose that because they have (or had)
a dread of eternal punishment, that therefore they love God. Not so: true love of God is
neither begotten by fears of Hell nor hopes of Heaven: if I do not love God for what He is
in Himself, then I do not love Him at all. And if I love Him, my desire, my purpose, my
aim, will be to please Him in all things. Much might be added to this section of our subject,
but we trust that sufficient has been said to enable exercised and honest souls to
learn how to identify those whom Scripture teaches are entitled to the assurance of salvation.—
A.W.P. God willing, to be continued.
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CONVICTION OF SIN
Conviction is an embryo of the new creature: if it come to a perfect birth, it brings
forth salvation to your souls; if it fails, you are finally lost. It is of infinite moment, therefore,
to everyone, to be tender of those convictions of conscience. It is true that conviction
and conversion are two things: there may be conviction without conversion, though
there cannot be conversion without conviction. The blossoms on the trees in the spring of
the year cannot properly be called fruit, but are rather the rudiments of fruit, or something
in order to fruit. If they open kindly and knit or set firmly, proper fruit follows them; but
if blight or a frosty morning kill them, no fruit is to be expected. Thus it is here. Great
care, therefore, ought to be taken about the preservation and success of convictions, both
by the soul itself that is under them, and by all others who are concerned about them.
1. What care the soul itself should have on whom convictions are wrought. Beware,
friends, how you quench them or hinder their operations, lest you hinder as much as in
you lies, the formation of Christ in your souls. The life of your souls is bound up in the
life of your convictions. I know it is hard for men to dwell with their own convictions:
guilt and wrath are sad subjects for men’s thoughts to dwell upon; but it is far better to
dwell with the thoughts of sin and wrath here, than to lie under them in Hell forever. You
may be freed from your convictions and your salvation together. Be not too eager for
peace—a good trouble is better than a false peace. And on the other hand, beware that
your convictions turn not into discouragements to faith: this will cross the proper intention
of them; they are Christ’s knockings for entrance, and were never intended to be bars
or stumblingblocks, but steps in your way to Christ.
2. Let all that are concerned about convicted souls beware what counsels they give
and what rules they prescribe, lest you destroy all in the bud. There are two errors too
commonly committed: one is excess, persuading souls under trouble of conscience that
there is no coming to Christ for them unless they are so and so prepared, humbled just to
such a degree: this is dangerous counsel; it overheats the troubled conscience, and keeps
the soul from its proper present duty and remedy. I am sure Paul and Silas took no such
course with the convicted jailer (Acts 16:31), nor Peter with the three thousand wounded
consciences (Acts 2:38). Nor do I find where God has stated the time and degree of spiritual
troubles, so that there must be no approaches to Christ in the way of faith, until they
have suffered them so long and to such a height. If they have embittered sin to the soul,
and made it see the necessity of a Saviour, it cannot move too soon after Christ in the
way of faith. Let no man set bounds where God sets none.
There is another error committed in defect: when promises and comfort are applied
before the nature of faith is known, or one act of reliance put forth towards Christ. These
hasty comforts come to nothing; they will not, they cannot stand. It is a dangerous thing
to apply Gospel cordials, and pour out the precious ointments of the promises upon those
who were never heart-sick for sin—address to such persons upon every slight trouble,
which is but as an early dew, the peculiar consolations of penitent and believing souls.
How many such empirics (quacks) are there in every place! Such as the prophet Jeremiah
complains of, “They have healed also the hurt of My people slightly, saying Peace; when
there is no peace” (6:14). Remember, that the foundation is now laying for eternity, and
that this is the time of deep consideration; men must ponder the terms and count the cost,
and deliberately accept and close this with Christ, before the consolations of the promises
can properly be administered to them.
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What a blessing is a rousing and faithful ministry among a people! By such a ministry
Christ knocks powerfully, this is one of the greatest blessings God can bestow upon a
people, when He sends among them powerful and judicious preachers of the Gospel, under
whose ministry their conscience cannot sleep quietly. These are the instruments by
which Christ knocks at men’s hearts; and as for those who sew pillows for drowsy sinners,
to sleep quietly upon (Eze. 3:8), the Lord owns them not as His: “Thy prophets have
seen vain and foolish things for thee, and they have not discovered (exposed) thine iniquity”
(Lam. 2:14). It is true that those ministers that give men no rest and quietness in
their sins, must expect but little rest and quietness themselves. What is it for ministers to
preach home to the consciences of others, but to pull down the rage of the world upon
their own heads? But certainly you will have cause to bless God through eternity, for
casting your lot under such a ministry; and the Lord accounts such a mercy sufficient to
recompense any outward affliction that may lie heavy upon you.
3. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). Then let me exhort
and persuade you by all the regard and love you have for your souls, by all the fears you
have of incensed wrath of the great and terrible God, that you forthwith set your convictions
at liberty, and loose all the Lord’s prisoners that lie bound within you: “Because
there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke” (Job 36:18). O stifle the
voice of conscience no more, slight not the softest whisper or least intimation of conscience;
reverence and obey its voice.
1. Till you set free your convictions Satan will not let you go: he binds you, while
you bind them. Here is the command of God and the command of Satan in competition.
Let My truths go free, which thou holdest in unrighteousness, says Jehovah; bind and
suppress them, says Satan, or they will deprive thee of the liberty and pleasures of thy
life. While thou slightest the voice of God and conscience, dost thou not avowedly declare
thyself the bondslave of Satan? “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom you obey?” (Rom. 6:16). Dare not to take
one step further in the way of known sin, says conscience; continue not at thy peril in
such a dangerous state, after I have so clearly convinced and warned thee of it. Fear not,
says Satan, if it be ill with thee, it will be with millions. Now, I say, thy obedience to Satan’s
commands declares thee, all this while, to be a poor enslaved captive to him, acted
on and carried according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now worketh in
the children of disobedience.
2. Until you obey your convictions, you are confederates with Satan in a desperate
plot against your own souls; you join with Christ’s great and avowed enemy to dishonour
Him. Two things make you confederates with Satan against your own souls. First, your
consent to this project for your damnation; for so your own conscience out of Scripture
informs you it is: consent makes you a party. Second, your concealment of this plot
brings you in as a party with him. Confess thy sin and bewail it, says conscience: not so,
says pride and shame; how shall I look men in the face if I do so? Do not you, in all this,
believe Satan and make God a liar? Do not you act as men who hate their own souls and
love death? “But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me
love death” (Prov. 8:36). O it is a dreadful thing for men to be accessory to their own
eternal ruin, and that after fair warning and notice given them by their own conscience.
Satan, be his power what it will, cannot destroy you without your own consent.
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3. While you go on stifling convictions and turning away your ears from calls to
righteousness, you cannot be pardoned; you are yet in your sins, and the guilt of them lies
at your door. You see what the terms of remission are: “Let the wicked forsake his ways,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have
mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7). And again,
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). You see by these, and many more plain Scripture testimonies,
that there can be no hope of remission, while you go on in the path of rebellion,
concealing, yea, and persisting in known wickedness. There is a necessary and inseparable
connection between repentance and remission: “Him hath God exalted with His right
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of
sins” (Acts 5:31); “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His
name” (Luke 24:47).
4. You can never have peace of conscience while you keep convictions prisoners. A
man’s conscience is his best friend or his worst enemy; thence are the sweetest comforts,
and thence are the bitterest sorrows. It is a dreadful thing for a man to lie with a cold
sweating horror upon his panting bosom. And this, or which is worse, obduracy and stupidity
must be the case of them who hold the truth in unrighteousness. As Israel could
have no peace till Achan was destroyed, so thou shalt have no peace while thy sin is covered
and hid. Deliver up thyself, if thou lovest peace, into the hand of thy own convictions,
and then thou art in the true way to peace.
Do not some of you stand convicted by your own consciences this day, that your
hearts and practices are vastly different from those of the true people of God among
whom you live, and whose character you read in Scripture? Do not your consciences tell
you, that you never took the pains for your salvation which you see them take; that there
are some in your families, nay, possibly in your bosoms, who are serious and holy while
you are vain and earthly—who are on their knees wrestling with God, while you are
about the things of the world? And does not your conscience sometimes whisper thus into
thine ear: Soul, thou art not right, something is wanting, to make thee a Christian. If it be
so, let me advise thee to hearken diligently to that voice of conscience; do not venture to
the judgment seat of God in such a case. Ponder that verse, “For John came unto you in
the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed
him: and ye, when ye had seen, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him”
(Matt. 21:32). Let the disparity your conscience shows you between your own course and
that of others, awaken you to more diligence and seriousness about your own salvation.
How canst thou come from thy vain recreations, and find a wife or child in prayer, and
thy conscience not smite thee? It may be they have been mourning for thy sins, whilst
thou hast been committing them.
Directions. 1. Fail not to put every conviction into speedy execution. Do not delay; it
is a critical hour, and delays are exceedingly hazardous. Convictions are fixed and secured
in men’s souls four ways. First, by deep and serious consideration: “I thought on
my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies” (Psa. 119:59). Second, by earnest
prayer: thus Saul, after his first convictions, fell on his knees: “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts
9:11). The breath of prayer forments and nourishes the sparks of conviction, that they be
not extinct. Third, by diligent attendance on the Word. The Word begets conviction, and
the Word can, through God’s blessing, preserve it. Fourth, by performing, without delay,
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the duty thou are commanded of: “For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he
is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straight-way forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24).
Take the sense thus: a man looks into the glass in the morning, and perhaps he sees a spot
on his face, or a disorder in his hair or clothes, and thinks within himself, I will rectify it;
but being gone from the place, one thing or other diverts his mind, he forgets what he
saw, and goes all the day with a spot on his face, never thinking of it more. O brethren,
delays are dangerous, sin is deceitful (Heb. 3:13), Satan is subtle (2 Cor. 11:3), and in
this way he gains his point. This motto may be written on the tomb of most that perish,
“Herein lies one that was destroyed by delays.”
Your life is uncertain, so are the strivings of the Spirit. Besides there is a mighty advantage
in the first impulse of the soul. When thy heart is once up in warm affections and
resolutions, the work may be easily done, see 2 Chronicles 29:36, for what advantage
there is in a present warm frame. Besides, the nature of these things is too serious and
weighty to be postponed and delayed. You cannot get out of the danger of Hell, or into
Christ, too soon. Moreover, every repetition of sin after conviction greatly aggravates it.
For it is in sinning as in numbering: if the first be one, the second is ten, the third a hundred.
You can never have a fitter season than the present.
2. If you would be clear from this great wickedness of holding the truth in unrighteousness,
see that you reverence the voice and authority of your conscience, and resolve
with Job, “My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live” (27:6). There are two considerations
fitted to beget reverence to the voice of conscience. (a) Conscience obeyed
and kept pure and inviolate is thy best friend on earth. “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of our conscience” (2 Cor. 1:12). What comforted Hezekiah on his supposed
deathbed, but the testimony his conscience gave of his integrity?—”I beseech Thee, O
Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart,
and have done good in Thy sight” (2 Kings 20:3). Solomon says, “The backslider in heart
shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself” (Prov.
14:14). Mark the opposition: conscience gives the backslider a heart full of sorrow, while
the heart of the upright man is full of peace. He is satisfied from himself; that is, from his
own conscience, which though it be not the original spring, yet is the conduct at which he
drinks peace, joy, and satisfaction.
(b) Conscience wounded and abused will be our worst enemy: “The spirit of a man
will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit, who can bear?” (Prov. 18:14). Could Judas
bear it? What is the torment of Hell, but the worm that dies not; and what is the
worm, but the remorse of conscience?—”Where their worm dieth not, and (in addition
A.W.P.) the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). The primitive Christians would rather be
cast to the lions than into the power of an enraged conscience. O if men did but fear and
reverence their own consciences; if they exercised themselves to have always a conscience
void of offence, as Paul did, (Acts 24:16), then would they be clear of this great
sin of holding the truth in unrighteousness.
3. If you would escape the guilt and danger of holding God’s truth in unrighteousness,
keep your hearts under the awful sense of the Day of Judgment, when every secret
thing will be brought to light, and conscience like a register-book will be opened and examined.
The due consideration of that Day gives the conscience a sevenfold defense
against sin. First, it incites every man to get real, solid grace, and not rest in an empty
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profession; and this secures us from formal hypocrisy, that we should not be found foolish
virgins (Matt. 25:3). Second, it excites us to the diligent improvement of our talents,
that we be not found slothful servants, neglecting any duty to which God and conscience
calls us (Matt. 25:21). Third, it confirms and establishes us in the ways of God, that we
wound not conscience by apostasy (1 John 2:28). Fourth, it is a loud call