As I was posting today's discussion on assurance I felt that it was pretty long for just one week. So since William Patton gives 4 examples of what these duties 'omitted or sins committed' may be I thought we might spread it over 2 weeks.This week dealing with 'Is it neglect of the Bible and of prayer?' & 'Is it fear of confessing Christ before men?' that causes a lack of assurance.
And next week we'll look at 'Is it that you are doing nothing for God - using no means to bring sinners to Christ!' & 'perhaps it is some sin committed'.
[For further details about this series go here]
Here's what Patton says:
2. Some duty omitted or sin committed.
"There is a verse in Isaiah 59 v2, which explains much of the want of assurance.
"Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."
When Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress fell into the hands of Giant Despair, and was confined in Doubting Castle, he had left the right road, and had gone over a stile into Bypath Meadow, where he ought not to have been.
This means that when we leave the path of God's commandments, and go where we ought not, we shall find ourselves soon in Doubting Castle.
John Angell James, shortly before he died, said that many of the Christians whom he knew lived in Doubting Castle, and that, from the careless manner of their lives, he would have been much surprised to find them living anywhere else than in Doubting Castle.
God cannot give assurance to people living in sin, John Newton says: "I would not give a straw for that assurance that sin will not damp. If David had come from his adultery, and had talked of his assurance at that time, I should have despised his speech."
Perhaps, Christian reader, your want of assurance arises from some duty omitted.
Is it neglect of the Bible and of prayer?
I remember meeting one day on the road a minister, with whom I had formerly been intimate, and he said, "I don't know how it is, but I have not as much assurance now as when I used to meet you." I said, "Do you read your Bible and pray as much now as you did then?" "I do not think I do," he replied. "Well, that is the reason.
There is no mystery about it." Reader, you will soon lose assurance if you do not feed on the milk of the word, and if you do not pray.
Is it fear of confessing Christ before men?
Perhaps you are afraid of somebody calling you a saint, and sneering at you, and so you do not want to be thought a Christian. God will not give you assurance if you are ashamed of Christ, and wish your neighbours to think that you are not acquainted with Him.
Remember, that if you really believe in Jesus, however feebly, you are bound to confess it quietly, humbly, but decidedly.
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10 v10).
Now, I have heard people confess Christ in a way that I think He did not like at all, telling everybody in a loud, boasting way, in every place and at every time, that they were Christians, and that they knew they were born again, and asking, are you born again?
Nevertheless, remember that if you are a Christian, you are bound to confess Christ; you are bound to go to the Lord's Table and confess Him there. You are bound also to tell the members of your own family, and your intimate friends, that you do believe you have found Christ, and to write the same to those of them living at a distance.
The more gently, humbly, and unostentatiously you do this the better, if you do it decidedly. But you must take up a decided position as a friend of Christ.
I know very well that the devil will tell you when you are converted: "Keep quiet, for if you fall away, it would be dreadful, and if you say nothing about it, it would not be nearly so bad." He knows very well that you are ten times more likely to fall away if you keep it hidden.
He knows that the very day you quietly and humbly make it known, you will get rid of all your wicked companions; and that on the same day you will get new companions who will do you good; and that God will be greatly pleased with you for confessing Him, and will give you more grace.
Is the Lord going to give you more grace, when you are ashamed of the grace He has given you already?
Indeed, He is not. And this is the reason why so many Christian people have no assurance. They are, ashamed of the Lord, and the Lord cannot afford to give them assurance. This is the reason why so many people who you had hoped were converted, and were going to be useful, turn out useless drones. They bottle it up, and hide it, and conceal it through fear of men.
Oh, my readers, you will never be of any use as Christians if you are ashamed of Jesus."
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What would you add?
(I'm off to Wexford for the weekend so I may not get to join the discussion too much)
