“…I know whom I have believed…he is able to keep that which I have committed….” (2 Timothy 1.12.)
Introduction. Better than any knife to spill the blood of our boasting is a remembrance of our safety in Christ. Assurance will not only keep us humble in prosperity, but it will preserve us from despair in adversity. Get then, Christian brethren and friends, get assurance. Don’t be content with hope, but get confidence too. Rest not in faith, but labor after the full assurance of faith. Don’t be content until you know your election, are sure of your redemption, and are certain of your preservation. I propose this morning to labor both for the edifying of the saint and the conversion of the sinner.
(1) The Grandest Action of the Christian’s Life. Many churches and chapels do not give the anxious inquirer a clear idea of what must be done to be saved. I hope to be clear. When the apostle committed himself to Christ, he renounced dependence on his own efforts to save himself. He had been one of the very straightest of the straightest sect of his religion. Then grace intervened. And we hear him say, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” You cannot be saved with one hand on self and the other hand on Christ. Let go, sinner; renounce all dependence on works. There are only two steps to heaven: out of self, and into Christ. When Christ is your all, you’ll be safe. Next, the apostle had implicit confidence that Christ would save him. Some men relinquish self, but then cannot see that Christ will save them. They want an angel, a vision, or a voice. They may think themselves too vile. But the chief of sinners committed himself to Christ just as he was. Repose your all on Christ; lay hold on him. Joab was not safe when he laid hold on the altar. But if you lay hold on Christ, you will be safe from the sword of vengeance. When the guilty sinner flies to the cross, Christ lifts up his wounded hands and cries to Justice, “Stand back! in the secret place of my tabernacle do I hide him.” The viler you are, the more will you honor him by believing he is able to make you clean. The apostle also made a full and free surrender of himself to Christ. He became Christ’s property and servant forever. Salvation is through being bought with a price. You must not be your own, and no longer Satan’s. Like committing your gold to a bank to keep it from thieves, you must commit your soul to our Redeemer to keep it from sin and Satan. Will you now trust him entirely? This act of faith must be continual, through life and in death, in tempest, sunshine, poverty, and wealth.
(2) The Justification of this Grand Act of Trust. The apostle did not rely upon one whose character he could suspect. Rome should not talk of pardoning others while fornication is licensed there. If you can’t trust a priest with your cash-box, don’t trust him with your soul. Will you be so foolish as to lay your soul at the feet of a man who is likely ten thousand times more wicked than you are? Trust not your soul with anyone but God. Jesus is your God. Paul was not wrong to trust Jesus. He knew Jesus’ Godhead, redemption, resurrection, power, love, etc. He knew these things by faith, but by experience also. Knowledge of Christ is like climbing a mountain. The higher we climb, the more we can see the expanse of his excellencies and beauties.
(3) The Apostle’s Confidence. See this man. He is sure he shall be saved. But why? Let us catechize the apostle. O apostle, what if you should be chained to the stake? Yea, he says, Jesus will then hold me fast. Paul, Paul, what if a kingdom were offered to you? The world’s flatteries might soon move me to renounce my own soul, he says, but they could not move Jesus to give me up.
Selection from Conclusion. “O poor sinner! come and put thy soul into the hands of Jesus.”
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