ASSURANCE--HOW TO GAIN IT

INTRODUCTION-- Some years ago, when I bought my life insurance, the name of the company was John Deere Life. Since that time, another company has bought the assets of John Deere Life, and now is called Reassure America.

Insurance salesmen often have to give evidence of the reliability of their company, in order to assure the customer.

The correlation between selling insurance (an abstract promise to pay an indemnity), and the persuasion of sinners to accept the salvation that is in Christ, is very close.

  1. The facts of the gospel do not always persuade one to be converted.
  2. The sinner must be assured by faith that God will fulfil His promises.
  3. The wavering Christian must also be assured of this.

     

What are some of the ways used by God to give us assurance?

  1. His righteous character and reputation for faithfulness causes us to have assurance. In 2 Timothy 1:8-12 , Paul expressed it like this: "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
  2. Assurance comes when we imitate the character of God, as in the demonstration of Love. 1 John 3:14-19 "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."
  3. Assurance comes from remembering the works of God. Psalm 78:1-8 "Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. 5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; 6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, 7 That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; 8 And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God."
  4. Assurance comes with understanding the mystery of God. Colossians 2:1-2 "For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ."
  5. Assurance comes with Faith.
    1. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." (ASV)
    2. Hebrews 10:19-22 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 and having a great priest over the house of God; 22 let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water,"
  6. Our original confidence must continue. Hebrews 3:12-14 "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14 for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end:"
  7. Building other spiritual qualities on our faith gives us assurance. 2 Peter 1:5-11 "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

  • In the Bible, we see people giving assurance by using oaths.

    1. Six or seven times in the Old Testament, we read that people called on God to visit sore punishment on them, if their words were not true. (This took the form of saying, "God do so to me, and more also.")
    2. In the New Testament, oaths are forbidden (Matthew 5:34, James 5:12), but Paul uses an expression of assurance that comes close to it.
      1. In Romans 1:9, Philippians 1:8 and 1 Thessalonians 2:5, he uses the expression, "God is my witness."
      2. In 2 Corinthians 1:23, he says, "And I call God as witness to my soul that to spare you I came no more to Corinth."

  • Assurance once came from an oath based on the very truth that God is alive.

    1. God used the expression "As I live" 20 times in the Old Testament to assure the Children of Israel about various truths.
    2. The Israelites were to swear by this fact. Jeremiah 4:2 "Thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."
    3. Many times in the Old Testament we find examples of this method being used by people to give assurance to others.
      1. Boaz swore to Ruth, "I will do the part of a kinsman to thee, as Jehovah liveth: (Ruth 3:13)."
      2. By this oath, many tried to assure their hearers, sometimes honoring their oaths, but sometimes failing to perform them.
        1. King Saul swore to execute his own son, if found guilty of violating his command. Jonathan was guilty, but the people, swearing the same oath, saved him from Saul's intention.
        2. When Nathan exposed the sin of David by telling a parable, David swore by this oath that the offender deserved death, not realizing that he was the guilty party.
        3. When Elijah tested Elisha's faithfulness by telling him to tarry in a place, while he went on to meet with God, Elisha swore by this oath that he would not abandon his mentor.
        4. David used this oath to assure Bathsheba that her son Solomon would be king.
    4. Several times, when men swore, "as the Lord Lives," they connected it with the double assurance of swearing, "as your soul lives."

       

    1. Though the oaths of men by the life of God (or by their own lives) may not be fulfilled, only God can swear by himself and always assure us of the fulfil-ment. Hebrews 6:13-20 "For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he sware by himself, 14 saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: 19 which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within the veil; 20 whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
      1. The priesthood of Christ is an assurance in itself. Hebrews 4:14-16 "Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need."
      2. The priesthood of Christ continues, because He ever lives. Hebrews 7:24-25 "He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
    2. The Resurrection of Jesus from death to life assures us that the plan of God will be fulfilled. Acts 17:30-31 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
    3. Assurance of salvation from sin also comes from the resurrection of Christ to life. 1 Corinthians 15:12-17 "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!"

       

    APPEAL-- As God lives, as your soul lives, and as Christ lives, God's Word is true, and we can have perfect confidence and assurance in all that He has promised. But, according to Hebrews 10:31, if we do not walk in confidence, and fall short of God's conditions for our salvation, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."