8. Assurance of Heart

THERE is a very precious line of truth unfolded in John's First Epistle that has to do with the experimental side of Christianity. In chapter three, verses 18 and 19, we are both exhorted and encouraged in the following words: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
Now this assurance of heart is the result of the Spirit's work in the believer, following the full assurance of faith. The moment I take God at His Word and trust the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, I have eternal life, and I know it on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, which over and over link the present possession of this life with faith in the One whom God gave to be the propitiation for our sins. And as I go on in the Christian life I have abundant corroborative evidence through the Holy Spirit's continuous work in my inmost being that this is indeed far more than a doctrine which I have accepted. I find from day to day positive proofs that I am in very truth a new man, "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Thus my assurance deepens. While at the beginning I rested everything for eternity upon the naked Word of God, I find, as I continue in faith, overwhelming confirmation of the truth of that Word in the manifestations of eternal life actually imparted to me a sinner, through grace.
Let us look carefully at some of these corroborative proofs which assure our hearts before Him.
First: The believer becomes conscious of an inborn love for the will of God. "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we are in him" (1 John 2:3-5). It is not natural for the unbeliever to delight in the will of God. The unsaved man loves his own way and resents being asked to yield his will to another.