Where is your evidence?

 

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."                                                            -- Hebrews 11:1

 

Let’s put ourselves on trial. We claim title to a saving interest in Christ. But what evidence do we have that our title is good? For some, nothing in all the world is of more vital concern than this. Your soul is vexed continually with the matter. –

“Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought.

Do I love the Lord, or no, Am I His, or am I not?”

 

Let’s examine the evidence and find out. If we can rightfully lay claim to that eternal salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with full assurance and confidence, we must be able to verify that it is ours by the evidence God has given in his Word. We must be able to point to the Word of God and given reason from Holy Scripture for the hope that lies within us (1 Pet. 3:15). The assurance of a saving interest in Christ must be built upon evidence that is acceptable, both in the court of heaven and in the court of my own conscience. We claim to be Christians.  We  hope that we are the children of God. We hope that we are heirs of God

 

and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Where is your evidence? Where is mine?

 

Not In Experiences

 

No experience of grace, feeling of spirituality, no work performed by me, past or present, is evidence that I am a child of God.

 

      I know that all who are born of God experience regeneration, conversion, and faith. I know that every true believer feels remorse for sin, conviction, inner conflict, love, joy, and peace. And I know that everyone born of God maintains good works in the tenor of his life. But you may experience, feel, and do all these things, and not be born again. Lot’s wife, Ananias and Sapphira, Simon Magus, and Saul of Tarsus all tells us plainly that neither religious experiences, nor good works, nor feelings of spirituality are evidences of faith in Christ.

 

“Feelings come and feelings go; And feelings are deceiving.

I trust the living Word of God. Naught else is worth believing!”

 

      What evidence do you have that you are a child of God? When your conscience disturbs you, how do you silence it? When doubts arise, how do you settle them? When you examine yourself, if you are honest enough to do so, by what do you prove to yourself that you are in the faith? Does your heart go back to an experience, or remember a feeling, or hold forth a work you have performed and say, “There, I know that I am saved, because I could never have experienced, felt, or done those things if I were not one of God’s children”?

 

If your assurance of a saving interest in Christ is built upon such a foundation of sand, I must tell you this: – Either you are a very proud, self-righteous hypocrite, deceiving your own heart with a refuge of lies (Isa. 26:15), or you have no real peace of heart, assurance of faith, and confidence before God at all! In your inmost soul, you cannot say with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). The evidence you offer to silence your conscience will not hold up in the court of conscience. Experiences of grace, feelings of spirituality, and good works are no evidence that I am born of God. These things can never give assurance to an honest man, because any grace I experience may be a counterfeit work of Satan. Any feelings I have may be no more than natural emotions. Every work performed by man is marred by sin.

 

Not In Graces

 

Those graces and works which may convince other men and women that I am a child of God, can never convince my own heart and conscience. Even that which appears to be the fruit of the Spirit is no sure evidence that I am one of God’s elect. There are many things by which others are convinced that we belong to God, many things which cause both the world and the church to call us the disciples of Christ (Matt. 5:13-16). But those who make the flattering opinions of others the evidence of their salvation deceive their own souls.

 

      What about gracious influences of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life, does not the fruit of the Spirit prove that a person is truly born of God? Without question, all who are born of God have the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit bears fruit in them (Gal. 5:22-23). -- Fruit toward God: “Love, joy, and peace.” -- Fruit toward man: “Longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness.” – And fruit within: “Faith (faithfulness), meekness, and temperance.” But these things, when held up as the evidence of life to my own conscience, can never give me assurance, if I am honest with myself.

 

      My love, joy, and peace toward God are, at best, fluctuating, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes fervent, and sometimes languid. My longsuffering is impatient. My gentleness is awfully hard, and my goodness is terribly selfish. My faithfulness is unpredictable. My meekness is full of pride. And my temperance lacks discipline. My conscience will accept none of these things as evidence that I belong to God, because conscience, like the law itself, demands perfection.

 

            If you look to the fruit of the Spirit in you as the evidence of your election, redemption, and regeneration, I must tell you this about yourself: – Either you are a proud, self-righteous, hypocrite, deceiving your own heart, or you have no real assurance, confidence of heart, and peace of conscience before God. You may sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” And you may protest vehemently against the possibility that you are not yet saved, a child of God, and an heir of eternal salvation. But in your inmost soul, in the quiet, still, lonely watches of the night, your conscience torments you and says, “You have no evidence of life. You are lost. You are dead in sin. You are a hypocrite!”

 

Not In Brotherly Love

 

Even my love for you, my brethren, is no sure evidence of a saving interest in Christ. Yes, all of God’s people love one another. If a man does not love his brethren, he does not love God. I do not deny that at all. Our Lord said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). But the issue is not what other men know. The issue is what I know. I want personal, full assurance that I have legitimate title to eternal life. I want evidence that will satisfy my own conscience and heart, answering to the Word of God, that I am one of God’s elect, one who’s sins have been put away by the Lord Jesus Christ, one who is born of God.

 

      I do love my brethren. I can even say, with honesty, that I do love the Lord Jesus Christ. But my love for my brethren and my love for Christ are not sufficient evidences to convince my heart and conscience of my saving interest in Christ.

 

      What about 1 John 3:14? - “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” Doesn’t John tell us that our love for the brethren is a basis for assurance? No. John is telling us that we know one another to be the children of God by our love for one another. This is the way we judge between men in this world. The children of God love one another and do righteousness. The children of the devil are malicious and wicked. But love toward the brethren can never be a basis of personal assurance for two reasons: (1.) I cannot know with certainty who my brethren are. (2.) My love for my brethren does not measure up to the requirements of Holy Scripture, and cannot honestly be called love at all (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Personally, (I speak only for myself. I cannot speak for another.) I find any comfort, peace, and hope in that passage only by reading “Christ” in every place where the word “charity” is found.

 

Still, this is certain: -- If you make your love toward your brethren the basis of your assurance and the evidence of your salvation, either you are a proud, self-righteous hypocrite, deceiving your own heart, or you have no assuring evidence of a saving interest in Christ. Without question, the lack of these things is evidence that a man is not saved. But their presence is not evidence that he is saved. Evidences drawn from personal experience, spiritual feelings, gracious attitudes, and good works, when fairly and honestly examined, are no evidence of a saving interest in Christ. And if these things are not evidences of salvation, it is certain that legal deeds are not! The believer’s only basis of assurance is faith in Christ.