Sword & Trowel 2017: Issue 1
Often believers prove the Lord for long seasons without doubts, but then they are suddenly assailed by them. Such an assault may follow a great disappointment in life or some tragedy, trial or sorrow, and Satan will take advantage of it. Perhaps a believer may have a tem- peramental tendency to sadness and the devil will take advantage of that. It may be there has been a neglect of devotions, cutting back of prayer or just rushing through those essential times before the Lord. The devil will know it and exploit the void of joy and peace, even in the case of seasoned believers. Sometimes the Lord will clear the
way for the devil to assail us if there is undue pride or self- confi dence in us. David seems to refer to this in Psalm 30, when he speaks of his mountain standing strong and everything going so well. At that point he was subjected to sore trou- bles and cried out to the Lord. If we become pleased with ourselves, taking credit for our standing and instrumentality, the Lord may with- draw his arm, leaving us to fend for ourselves. It is probable that in every congre-
gation there is some dear believer who has the rare problem of almost never being able to feel assurance of salvation. Pastors will usually help such friends on an individual basis. It is not common, but it happens, and used to be referred to as ‘the child of light walking in darkness’. As far as most Christians are concerned, it is our great privilege to know we are saved, and it is a duty to seek that assurance and to
page 8 The Dissolving of Doubts
embrace the promises of God. In this review of assurance we will mainly consider the newer Christian, the person who has recently sought (and probably found) the Lord, but who now says to himself or herself, ‘I do not feel I am saved; whatever I have experienced I fear it was a delusion. I sin, and repeat sins, and I am not sure I can see the marks of grace in my life. I do not think I could have been sincere.’
Such doubts go round the mind
repeatedly, and Satan seems to seal them in the innermost being.
1 A SENSE OF GOD’S PERFECTIONS
Here are the apostle John’s signs that spiritual life is in us, the fi rst being found in 1 John 1.5-7 – ‘This then is the message which we
have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’
It helps us to see the full force of what is meant by being ‘in the light’ if we think of the recipients’ back- ground. Most of those who received this letter of John would have had pagan backgrounds, believing in multiple, mythical gods, all sinful, full of cruelty, meanness and dishon- esty. But conversion brought them to
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