Chapter 10
Section 1.
Before I offer you the proofs and evidences of this truth, it will be necessary to prevent some mistakes that may be occasioned by misunderstanding of it.
Caution 1. In the first place, we are not to think assurance of our sincerity impossible to be had in this life, because as long as we live here we are in a state of trial. And however many trials have already been made upon us, yet still there are more to come. We know not what we shall prove in future trials, though God has kept us upright in former ones. No, no — this is none of my meaning, nor does such a conclusion necessarily follow this assertion. For a Christian that has rightly closed with Christ at first, and been faithful in the duties of active and passive obedience hitherto, may be assured upon good grounds of a victory before he comes to the fire of his remaining trials. So was the apostle (Romans 8:35 and following): 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these we are more than conquerors through him that has loved us.' Here is an assured triumph before the combat. So Job 23:10: 'But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.' He appeals to God for the sincerity of his heart so far as he had hitherto gone in the way of religion, and thence concludes that whatever trials God should bring him to for time to come, he should come forth as gold — that is, he should not lose one grain by the fire. And this confidence of a gracious soul is built not only upon experience gained in former trials, but upon faith in the power, promises, and faithfulness of God, which are engaged for him in the covenant of grace to keep him in the greatest dangers that befall him in this world.
He believes the power of God is able to make him stand, though he has no power or might in himself to overcome the least temptation. 'You are kept' — kept as with a garrison — 'by the power of God through faith unto salvation' (1 Peter 1:5). When Christ has once taken possession of the soul by his Spirit, he fortifies it by his power as a garrison, so that, using the means, it may not be surprised or betrayed into the enemy's hand so as finally to be lost.
He builds this confidence also upon the promises of God, which are his security in all future dangers. How are all the pages of the Bible bespangled with such promises, as the firmament is with bright and glorious stars! Such are these of the first magnitude: 'Christ shall confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ; God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord' (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). And no less satisfying and sweet is that in Jeremiah 32:40: 'I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' And of the same nature is that in John 10:27-28: 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.'
If there is any hypocrite in sheep's clothing, he has no part nor lot in this promise; but it secures the whole flock of Christ, great and small, against all danger.
He also builds his assurance upon the faithfulness of God, which stands engaged to make good every line, word, and syllable of his promises to his people. So we find it in 1 Corinthians 10:13: 'There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with every temptation make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.' And 2 Thessalonians 3:3: 'But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil.'
Add to this the constant, prevailing intercession of Christ in heaven for his people in all their trials, and you will see that a sincere Christian need not deny himself the joy and comfort of his assurance upon the account and supposition of his future trials.
Section 2.
Caution 2. Nor do we here suppose in this assertion that inherent grace in the saints has a sufficiency of ability in itself to endure the greatest and severest trials that can befall it in this world. It is certain that it shall be carried safely through all, but not in its own strength and ability.
That is a true observation of the learned Gerson: 'The most perfect creatures, left to themselves, are weights tending toward ruin.' This was exemplified in the angels that fell, and in Adam, though in a perfect state. Divine preservation is the prop which supports the best creatures from ruin. Grace itself is but a creature, and therefore a dependent being. It is but a stream that depends upon the supply of the fountain. If the fountain does not let itself forth, what becomes of the stream? That is a true and judicious observation of the learned Dr. Ames: 'The perseverance of believers, or the immutability of their condition, if we view the whole ground and reason of it, is not wholly from within, nor wholly from without itself; but partly from the nature of the spiritual life which flows from Christ into them, and partly from the keeping, protection, and direction of God.' That protection is always afforded to this life of grace, and this life of grace always needs that protection. The best of men are but men at best, as one speaks. It was not Peter's grace and resolution that kept him, but Christ's care of him and intercession for him (Luke 22:32). 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,' says the apostle (Ephesians 6:10). 'Without me,' says Christ, 'you can do nothing' (John 15:5).
Neither of these is what I have before me to prove. But this is what I aim at: that such seeming grace as was never yet brought to the trial, nor will be able to bear the trial when God shall bring it thereto, must not pass for current — as too frequently it does — among us. Such grace will neither comfort us now nor save us hereafter.
Section 3.
First, great numbers of persons in the professing world are deceived and destroyed by trusting to seeming and untried grace. This was the miserable condition of those Laodicean professors in the text. They reckoned themselves rich, but were really poor. All is not gold that glisters. Their gold, as they accounted it, was never tried in the fire. If a man's whole estate lay in some precious stone — suppose a rich diamond — how concerned should he be to have it thoroughly tried, to see whether it will bear a smart stroke with the hammer or fly like a Bristol diamond under it? All that you are worth lies in the truth and sincerity of your grace. And until that is tried, you know not whether you are worth anything or nothing.
Reader, there are two sad sights in the world which cannot but deeply affect every upright heart. One is to see so many thousands of rational and ingenious men in the Roman Church, by an implicit faith in their guides, venturing their souls upon their bare word — never searching the Scriptures with their own eyes, but wholly trusting to the infallibility of the pope or a council. And this while they would fear to take their word for a sum of money without some further security. It is amazing to behold the soul-destroying, easy credulity of these men. But this is a stroke of madness and spiritual infatuation judicially inflicted upon them, that the judgment which is written might be fulfilled in them: 'God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie' (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
And yet more amazing is that stroke of God upon multitudes of vain and formal professors even in the Reformed Protestant churches, where no man is restrained from searching the Scriptures. Nay, where men are so frequently and earnestly pressed from Sabbath to Sabbath to examine themselves and prove their own work. That yet so many are content to leave all at hazard, and without any more ado or further search in the matter, credit the report of their own deceitful hearts and take all for granted without due trial or examination.
Surely, no one thing sends more souls daily to hell out of the professing world than this. The five foolish virgins — that is, the unprincipled professors in the Reformed churches — perished this way. They took it for granted all was well because they had lamps of profession as well as others. And they saw not the cheat until the cry was heard at midnight and their unfurnished lamps went out (Matthew 25).
Secondly, the promises of salvation are made over to tried grace, and such only as will endure the trial. So James 1:12: 'Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which God has promised to them that love him.' He must be first tried, and then crowned. 'If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully' (2 Timothy 2:5). He manifestly alludes to the Roman games, to which there were judges appointed to see that no foul play was offered contrary to the law for wrestling. Where it was found, the crown was denied them. Not to him that sets forth in the morning with resolution and gallantry, but to him that holds out till the evening of his life, is the promise made (Matthew 10:22): 'He that endures to the end shall be saved.' So Romans 2:7: 'To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality — eternal life.' And once more (Hebrews 3:14): 'We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.' So that if you should endure some few slighter troubles and faint at last — give out when a closer trial befalls you — all your labors and sufferings are in vain. Sincerity and final perseverance are the conditions of all special promises.
Thirdly, every man's graces and duties must be tried and weighed by God in the great day. And if they cannot endure these lesser trials to which God exposes them now, how will they endure that severe and exact trial to which he will bring them then? No man can search his own heart with that exactness in this world as God will search it in the world to come.
I may say in this case to you as the Lord spoke to Jeremiah (chapter 12, verse 5): 'If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein you trusted they have wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?' This was spoken to encourage the prophet to constancy in his work. As if the Lord had said, 'O Jeremiah, do the strivings of the men of Anathoth — your own town — dishearten you? Pluck up your spirits and faint not; there are harder trials than these that you must undergo at Jerusalem.' 'These are no more to what is coming than the running with footmen is to contending with horses, or the passing of a small rivulet to the swellings of Jordan.'
To allude to this: if our graces and duties cannot bear these lighter trials — if a little lift of prosperity or lighter stroke of adversity discover so much falseness, rottenness, pride, and selfishness in the heart — if we cannot resist the motions of corruptions but yield ourselves to obey sin in the lusts of it — if we can neither keep our hearts with God in duties nor mourn for our wanderings from him — if a few scoffs from wicked tongues or trials of persecution from the hands of men will cause us to faint in the way and turn back from following the Lord — what shall we do when he comes whose fan is in his hand and who will thoroughly purge his floor (Matthew 3:12), who will try every man's work as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13), search the secrets of all hearts (Romans 2:16), and weigh every man to his ounces and drachmas? Surely we can take little comfort in that which is so unable to bear the severe trials of that day, that it cannot stand before the slighter trials of this day.
Fourthly, true grace is willing to be tried, and nothing is more desirable to an upright soul than to know his own condition. If therefore we shun the trial and are loath to search ourselves, or be searched by the Lord, our condition is suspicious and we can take little comfort in it. It was David's earnest desire (Psalm 139:23) that God would thoroughly search his heart and mind, and see if there were any way of wickedness in him. False grace is shy of God's eye; it cares not to be examined. But this is the delight of sincere ones: 'Every one that does evil hates the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God' (John 3:20-21).
The reason is plain why hypocrisy cannot endure to come to the touchstone and test. Hypocrites, having a secret consciousness of their own guilt and unsoundness, know that by this means their vain confidence would quickly be confuted and all their reputation for religion blasted. But O, if men dare not stand before the word as it is now opened and applied by ministers, how will they stand when it shall be opened and applied in another manner by Jesus Christ?
O professor, if your condition is good and your heart right, you will desire to know the very worst of yourself. And when you have made the deepest search you can, you will still fear you have not been severe enough and impartial enough toward yourself. Nothing will give you more content than when you feel the word dividing your soul and spirit, your joints and marrow. Nothing so much comforts you under or after an affliction as the discovery it has made of your heart. You will seem to feel with what affections those words came from the prophet's lips (Jeremiah 12:3): 'But you, O Lord, know me; you have seen me, and tried my heart toward you.' O what a refreshing sweetness will stream through your heart and all the powers of your soul when you can make the like appeal to God with like sincerity! And certainly, without such a disposition of spirit toward the trial of our graces, we can have little evidence of the truth of them.
