Our Blessed Assurance Dispells All Doubt

July 11

"God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." I John 5:11-13

H.A. Ironside (1876-1951) was a turn-of-the-century American Bible teacher, pastor, and author. An observer recounted this story of Ironside ministering to an elderly man unsure of his salvation.

The man said to Ironside, "I will not go on unless I know I'm saved, or else know it's hopeless to seek to be sure of it. I want a definite witness, something I can't be mistaken about!"

Ironside replied, "Suppose you had a vision of an angel who told you your sins were forgiven. Would that be enough to rest on?"

"Yes, I think it would. An angel should be right," the man replied.

"But suppose on your deathbed Satan came and said, 'I was that angel, transformed to deceive you'," Ironside continued. What would you say?"

The man was speechless. Ironside then said that God has given us something more dependable than the voice of an angel. He has given His Son, who died for our sins, and He has testified in His own Word that if we trust Him all our sins are gone.

Ironside read 1 John 5:13, "You may know that you have eternal life." Then he said, "Is that not enough to rest on? It is a letter from heaven expressly to you." God's Spirit used that to bring assurance to the man's heart. Anonymous

We love the notion of something free. From children who delight in the gift in the Cracker Jack box to people who open a new bank account to obtain the blender offered for doing so to the thousands who daily purchase lottery tickets in the hope of hitting the jackpot, we are compelled to reach for the unearned prize.

The one thing mankind in general seems able to resist in the way of a free gift offered is the one our God extends to us in the form of Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

In Romans 3:24 the Apostle Paul states quite clearly, ”…and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.” All are justified freely, but all do not accept the free gift of justification. Some do not accept the gift because they do not know about it.

Romans 10:14 asks bluntly, “How then can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher?”

Perhaps we who know Jesus as Savior and Lord must resolve to share the good news of the free gift with those who have not heard even more fully than we ever yet have. The days are growing ever more evil and the world is becoming even more greatly steeped in the darkness of sin.

As Jesus Himself said in John 9:4, “We must do the work of Him who sent Me while it is yet day, for the night is coming when no one can work.” That spiritual night is rapidly closing upon us.