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All of Grace
Confirmation
I
WANT YOU TO NOTICE the security which Paul confidently expected for all the
saints. He says--"Who shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the kind of
confirmation which is above all things to be desired. You see it supposes that
the persons are right, and it proposes to confirm them in the right. It would be
an awful thing to confirm a man in ways of sin and error. Think of a confirmed
drunkard, or a confirmed thief, or a confirmed liar. It would be a deplorable
thing for a man to be confirmed in unbelief and ungodliness. Divine confirmation
can only be enjoyed by those to whom the grace of God has been already
manifested. It is the work of the Holy Ghost. He who gives faith strengthens and
establishes it: He who kindles love in us preserves it and increases its flame.
What He makes us to know by His first teaching, the good Spirit causes us to
know with greater clearness and certainty by still further instruction. Holy
acts are confirmed till they become habits, and holy feelings are confirmed till
they become abiding conditions. Experience and practice confirm our beliefs and
our resolutions. Both our joys and our sorrows, our successes and our failures,
are sanctified to the selfsame end: even as the tree is helped to root itself
both by the soft showers and the rough winds. The mind is instructed, and in its
growing knowledge it gathers reasons for persevering in the good way: the heart
is comforted, and so it is made to cling more closely to the consoling truth.
The grip grows tighter, and the tread grows firmer, and the man himself becomes
more solid and substantial.
This is not a merely natural growth, but is as distinct a
work of the Spirit as conversion. The Lord will surely give it to those who are
relying upon Him for eternal life. By His inward working He will deliver us from
being "unstable as water," and cause us to be rooted and grounded. It
is a part of the method by which He saves us--this building us up into Christ
Jesus and causing us to abide in Him. Dear reader, you may daily look for this;
and you shall not be disappointed. He whom you trust will make you to be as a
tree planted by the rivers of waters, so preserved that even your leaf shall not
wither.
What a strength to a church is a confirmed Christian! He is
a comfort to the sorrowful, and a help to the weak. Would you not like to be
such? Confirmed believers are pillars in the house of our God. These are not
carried away by every wind of doctrine, nor overthrown by sudden temptation.
They are a great stay to others, and act as anchors in the time of church
trouble. You who are beginning the holy life hardly dare to hope that you will
become like them. But you need not fear; the good Lord will work in you as well
as in them. One of these days you who are now a "babe" in Christ shall
be a "father" in the church. Hope for this great thing; but hope for
it as a gift of grace, and not as the wages of work, or as the product of your
own energy.
The inspired apostle Paul speaks of these people as to be
confirmed unto the end. He expected the grace of God to preserve them personally
to the end of their lives, or till the Lord Jesus should come. Indeed, he
expected that the whole church of God in every place and in all time would be
kept to the end of the dispensation, till the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom
should come to celebrate the wedding-feast with his perfected Bride. All who are
in Christ will be confirmed in Him till that illustrious day. Has He not said,
"Because I live ye shall live also"? He also said, "I give unto
my sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand." He that hath begun a good work in you will confirm it
unto the day of Christ. The work of grace in the soul is not a superficial
reformation; the life implanted as the new birth comes of a living and
incorruptible seed, which lives and abides for ever; and the promises of God
made to believers are not of a transient character, but involve for their
fulfilment the believer's holding on his way till he comes to endless glory. We
are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation. "The righteous
shall hold on his way." Not as the result of our own merit or strength, but
as a gift of free and undeserved favour those who believe are "preserved in
Christ Jesus." Of the sheep of His fold Jesus will lose none; no member of
His Body shall die; no gem of His treasure shall be missing in the day when He
makes up His jewels. Dear reader, the salvation which is received by faith is
not a thing of months and years; for our Lord Jesus hath "obtained eternal
salvation for us," and that which is eternal cannot come to an end.
Paul also declares his expectation that the Corinthian
saints would be "Confirmed to the end blameless." This blamelessness
is a precious part of our keeping. To be kept holy is better than merely to be
kept safe. It is a dreadful thing when you see religious people blundering out
of one dishonour into another; they have not believed in the power of our Lord
to make them blameless. The lives of some professing Christians are a series of
stumbles; they are never quite down, and yet they are seldom on their feet. This
is not a fit thing for a believer; he is invited to walk with God, and by faith
he can attain to steady perseverance in holiness; and he ought to do so.
The Lord is able, not only to save us from hell, but to keep us from falling. We
need not yield to temptation. Is it not written, "Sin shall not have
dominion over you?" The Lord is able to keep the feet of His saints; and He
will do it if we will trust Him to do so. We need not defile our garments, we
may by His grace keep them unspotted from the world; we are bound to do this,
"for without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
The apostle prophesied for these believers, that which he
would have us seek after--that we may be preserved, blameless unto the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ." The revised version has "unreproveable,"
instead of "blameless." Possibly a better rendering would be
"unimpeachable." God grant that in that last great day we may stand
free from all charge, that none in the whole universe may dare to challenge our
claim to be the redeemed of the Lord. We have sins and infirmities to mourn
over, but these are not the kind of faults which would prove us to be out of
Christ; we shall be clear of hypocrisy, deceit, hatred, and delight in sin; for
these things would be fatal charges. Despite our failings, the Holy Spirit can
work in us a character spotless before men; so that, like Daniel, we shall
furnish no occasion for accusing tongues, except in the matter of our religion.
Multitudes of godly men and women have exhibited lives so transparent, so
consistent throughout, that none could gainsay them. The Lord will be able to
say of many a believer, as he did of Job, when Satan stood before Him,
"Hast thou considered my servant, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and escheweth evil?" This is what my reader must look for at
the Lord's hands. This is the triumph of the saints--to continue to follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goes, maintaining our integrity as before the living God.
May we never turn aside into crooked ways, and give cause to the adversary to
blaspheme. Of the true believer it is written, "He keepeth himself, and
that wicked one toucheth him not." May it be so written concerning us!
Friend just beginning in the divine life, the Lord can give
you an irreproachable character. Even though in your past life you may have gone
far into sin, the Lord can altogether deliver you from the power of former
habits, and make you an example of virtue. He can not only make you moral, but
He can make you abhor every false way and follow after all that is saintly. Do
not doubt it. The chief of sinners need not be a whit behind the purest of the
saints. Believe for this, and according to your faith shall it be unto you.
Oh, what a joy it will be to be found blameless in the day
of judgment! We sing not amiss, when we join in that charming hymn:
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay;
While through Thy blood absolved I am,
From sin's tremendous curse and shame?
What bliss it will be to enjoy that dauntless courage, when
heaven and earth shall flee away from the face of the Judge of all! This bliss
shall be the portion of everyone who looks alone to the grace of God in Christ
Jesus, and in that sacred might wages continual war with all sin.
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