Getting Certain Assurance
by C H SpurgeonFROM SWORD & TROWEL 1999 No 1
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God (1 John
5.13).
IT IS FAR better to know that we have eternal life than to be able to predict the future of
empires or to forecast the destiny of kings. John acts according to his loving heart when he writes to
lead us into the sure knowledge of our salvation.
To whom was this epistle written? It is important to note this, for I may be reading a
communication meant for somebody else. John wrote to all those who believe on the name of the
Son of God.
At one point John says, ‘I write unto you, little children.’ Then he says, ‘I write unto you,
young men.’ He also says, ‘I have written unto you, fathers.’ Overall, he writes to babes, young men,
and fathers under the one comprehensive description of those who have believed in the name of the Son
of God.
Little children, you who have just begun the spiritual life, we want you to be certain that you
have eternal life. Young men, battling with sin, we want you to be strengthened for your conflict by
knowing that you have eternal life. Fathers, let us hope you have not come so far along the pilgrim
journey without this knowledge, but these things are written so that you, in your mature years, may be
certain that the life of God is strong within you. No person, young or old, is excluded from this text,
unless he is an unbeliever.
We may gather from the fact that John speaks exclusively to the people of God, that there are
some true believers who are not certain that they have eternal life. A very large number of true believers
do not know this cheering fact. For instance, certain Christians believe that even if they are now saved
they may yet be lost. But John says firmly, ‘Beloved, I pray for you that you may know that you
have eternal life, and not a temporary life.’
The life which the Holy Spirit imparts to the believer is not a thing of days and weeks. It is
eternal. We were born again to a living hope on the day of our regeneration. We were - ‘born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible’. Our Lord at the well of Samaria gave us another figure:
‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ Many imagine that this spring can
fail!
How much comfort God’s dear children lose by not understanding the absolute immortality of
the new life! Has not Jesus said, ‘I give unto them [my sheep] eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’?
Still, there are Christians who believe all this, and are perfectly right in theory, but yet they
cry, ‘I want to know that I have eternal life. I want a fuller assurance of salvation than I have already
obtained.’ That is also our desire for you.
John states as a fact, that everyone who believes on the name of the Son of God has eternal
life. We should not doubt this. It is not a matter of inference and deduction, but a matter of revelation
from God. You are not to form an opinion upon it, but to believe it, for the Lord has said it.
Listen to 1 John 5.1: ‘Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God.’ Thus says the Spirit of God, and so it must be. We do not need any further evidence. This is the
unvarying testimony of the whole of Scripture.
Many times John insists that the believer has eternal life. I beseech you never to question the
statement. Settle it in your mind, for if you have any doubt about it you have undermined the Gospel.
Glorify God by believing His testimony.
It is a very remarkable thing that people should not know whether they believe in Jesus or
not: for it is easily ascertained. I know what I think. I know what I resolve. I know whether I doubt. I
ought, therefore, to know whether I believe. But human nature received a terrible twist at the Fall. There
is no estimating the possible inconsistency and contradiction of the human mind.
I have been in a state of mind in which I have questioned the possibility of there being a grain
of grace in me, and yet I have clung to Jesus with a death grip. At such times my mind has worked
morbidly, and its way has been turned upside down. Bunyan speaks of being ‘much tumbled up and
down in his thoughts’. It is possible for a person to be a very strong believer and yet to question whether
he has a spark of faith.
If you once become a sufferer under this wretched complaint, the absurdity of your disease
will not lessen its painfulness. Our mental distresses need not be logical to be full of anguish. You
probably know some people who are excessively nervous. They are afraid the skies will fall, or the earth
will crack. This is certainly foolish, but the agony they suffer is very real.
It is necessary for me to say that full assurance of our possessing eternal life is possible. The
Church of Rome teaches that no man can be assured that he has eternal life, except some few to whom
supernatural revelations may be given. This sort of doctrine also lingers in the air of Protestantism.
People who know that they have eternal life do not need to spend time in weighing and
calculating evidences and perpetually examining themselves.
I go a little further: it is our duty to obtain full assurance. We are commanded to
give diligence to make our calling and election sure. I am convinced that it is right for a child of God to
know that God is his Father, and never to have a question in his heart as to his sonship. I am certain it is
right for a soul that is married to Christ to know the love of the bridegroom, and never to tolerate a
cloud of suspicion to come between the soul and the full enjoyment of that love.
How does John help us in his epistle to know that we are believers, and consequently to know
that we have eternal life? I cannot attempt a full résumé of it, but I shall select a few items. Without the
slightest forcing of a single sentence it could be shown that the whole letter bears upon assurance. The
exhortation of the apostle - that all believers might know that they have eternal life - is the silken thread
upon which its pearls are strung.
First, believers ought to know that they have eternal life, and ought never to doubt it, because
God’s own word assures them that it is so. Remember that word of the Lord Jesus in John
6.47 - ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.’ Will we
doubt the Lord’s ‘Verily, verily’? Christ’s word (unsupported by any external evidence) is quite enough
to satisfy every gracious mind. ‘Let God be true, but every man a liar.’ Everything that we have looked
upon as evidence of our standing should be regarded as a lie if it denies the declaration of the Lord.
Out of this simple faith in God, assurance comes naturally, by the operation of the Spirit of
God upon the heart. Take pure, unadulterated milk and let it stand, and you will soon get cream. When
faith has stood long enough, you see the rich cream of holy confidence upon the top of it. The witness of
God is true, and therefore to be believed, and believed with full assurance.
Do friends assure me that they see spiritual life in me? I am much obliged to them, but I do
not need their evidence. ‘He that believeth . . . hath the witness in himself.’ When the Holy Spirit has
made a statement, it is an impertinence to offer any further evidence upon the point. Therefore, that
matter is not my subject. I take it, we must not offer you any other argument to prove the eternal life of
believers beyond this - God has said it.
The only evidence which matters is this - ‘Do I truly believe in Jesus Christ?’ Let us look at
the epistle for help in this enquiry.
1. You will find, first, that John mentions as an evidence of believing, truthful
dealing with God in confession of sin. Normally, people walk in falsehood towards God, but
when we have believed in Jesus we come to walk in the light of truth. ‘If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’
The person who walks in the light comes before God as a sinner, whom the blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanses from all sin. So, then, you may take this as an evidence that you are a saved
person, if you deal truthfully with God; if you confess your guilt before Him, your only hope of being
cleansed being the blood of Jesus Christ. If this is so then you have come to act towards God in the light
of truth, and He accepts you.
The third chapter speaks of purification. ‘Every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.’ Do you every day endeavour to keep clear of sin; and, when you
have sinned, do you at night go with bitter repentance to God, and beg to be delivered from it?
Are you fighting against your besetting sins? Do you contend against the customs of the
world? Let that be an evidence that there is in you a new spirit which was not there by nature, and let
that prove to you that you are quickened into newness of life.
2. Next, John gives us obedience as a test of the believer. In the second
chapter, he says, ‘And 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. He that
saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.’
Come then brethren, do you obey the will of the Lord from your heart? Is holiness the aim of
your life? Do you strive to do as Jesus bids you? Do you set your clock by the heavenly sun? Do you try
to order your ways and your steps according to the law of the Lord? Do you delight yourself also in the
law of God after the inner man? Then His servant you are Whom you obey. Rest assured beyond all
question that you are one of Christ’s sheep, for He says, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me.’ ‘He that doeth righteousness is righteous.’ If grace has made you obedient it has given
you eternal life.
3. I call attention, next, to the evidence of love in the heart. In the second
chapter we read, ‘He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.’ Then go
on to the third chapter. ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.’
This will greatly help you to decide your case. Do you hate anybody? Are you seeking
revenge? Are you unforgiving? Then you are not dwelling in the light: you are of Cain and not of Christ.
We must feel a general benevolence towards all men, and a still more intense love towards all
who are in Christ. This love must be practical, and lead us to help and succour our brethren. Have you
this love? Do you feel a delight in the company of the brethren because they belong to Christ, however
poor or illiterate they may be?
You would not feel love reigning in your spirit if true faith had not come to dwell there. A
loving spirit evidenced by a loving life is a true sign that you belong to God, Whose name is love. Be of
good courage and enter into full assurance, all you whose hearts glow with the sacred flame of fervent
love to God and men.
4. Next comes separation from the world. In the second chapter we read:
‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.’ This is backed up by a sentence in the third chapter: ‘Therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not.’
Have you met with opposition from the ungodly? Do you find when you go out to work that
your colleagues who used to drink with you are inclined to avoid you? Then there is a difference
between you and others, and the world can see it. The serpent’s seed will hiss at the seed of the woman.
God has put an enmity between the two.
Did not our Lord say, ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye
were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you’? Thus slander, abuse, and other forms of
persecution may be turned to your comfort by showing that you are of that sect which is everywhere
spoken against.
5. Next to that, in the second chapter, we have the evidence of continuance in
the faith. ‘And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even
now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but
they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they
went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.’
Perseverance in holiness is a sure mark of election. It is the righteous who hold on their way;
but mere pretenders are as wandering stars and fading flowers. That which comes and goes is not of
God: the Holy Spirit abides permanently in true believers.
6. Furthermore, we find an evidence for true belief in answers to prayer:
‘And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things
that are pleasing in his sight.’ Does God hear your prayers? Then you are pleasing in His sight.
Are you in the habit of speaking with Him, and does He reply to you? Then you are agreed
with God. He hears not those who wilfully live in sin; but if any man does His will, him He hears. You
may look upon every answered prayer as another token of the love of God toward you in Christ Jesus
your Lord.
7. Adherence to the truth is another help to assurance. Read the whole
fourth chapter: ‘Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world.’
If you have taken Scripture to be your guide, and hold fast by the truth of God, you are one of
Christ’s sheep, of whom He says, ‘A stranger will they not follow . . . for they know not the voice of
strangers.’ He that questions what the Spirit says has not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him. Against
the detestable spirit of this age, and against everything that would corrupt the Gospel of Christ, it is the
mark of the true seed to stand opposed.
8. One of the best evidences of true faith, and one of the best helps to full assurance is
a holy familiarity with God. Read in the fourth chapter - ‘And we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first
loved us.’
Eternal life is surely in you if you have entered into the secret place of the tabernacles of the
Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. When you have no longer that slavish fear
which makes you stand back, but that childlike confidence which draws you nearer and yet nearer unto
God, then are you His child. The spirit of adoption is one point of sure witness from the Spirit of God.
Finally I wish to say personally, it is some thirty-four years since I first believed in Christ
Jesus. I came to Him as nothing in myself, and I took Him to be my all. At this moment I possess a
comfortable and clear assurance that I have eternal life. But my ground of confidence today is exactly
what it was when I first came to Christ.
I have no confidence in my confidence. I place no reliance upon my own assurance. My
assurance lives in the fact that, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ and that ‘Whosoever
believeth in him hath everlasting life.’ I do believe in Him, and therefore I know I have eternal life.
Brethren, do not stir beyond that. Keep to your first faith. If you think it wise to examine
these signs and evidences which I have given you, do so. But if you think you will get food out of them
you will find a bare cupboard.
If you think you can live without Christ, and without the daily exercise of faith, you
tragically err. If you think you can live on what you have known in the past, you are greatly mistaken. It
is like trying to live on stale manna. Everything you look to apart from Christ will rot in due time, so
that you will loathe it. Every vessel, whether it be a great flagon or a little cup, must hang upon the one
nail where it is fastened. If you get from Jesus Christ, you wander into a land of darkness and of the
shadow of death.
According to all right principles, assurance should increase by the lapse of time during which
faith occupies itself upon the sure promise. I have trusted my soul on Christ, therefore I have eternal life.
How do I know? I know, because the Spirit of God has so declared it in the Word of God. Thus He has
spoken - ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.’ I believe in the Son, and, therefore, I have
eternal life.
I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and they that trust in Him are saved.
Therefore I trust Him. Therefore I am saved. The Word of God declares it. Blessed be His name for ever
and ever.
SPURGEON DISSATISFIED WITH HIS OWN PREACHING MINISTRY
It is a long time since I preached a sermon that I was satisfied with. I scarcely
recollect ever having done so. You do not know, for you cannot hear my groanings when I go
home Sunday after Sunday, and wish that I could learn to preach somehow or other, and that I
could discover the way to touch your hearts and your consciences. I seem to myself to be just like
the fire when it wants stirring: the coals have got black when I want them to flame forth. If I
could but say in the pulpit what I feel in my study, or if I could but get out of my mouth what I
have tried to get into my own soul, then I should preach indeed, and move your souls, I think. Yet
perhaps God will use our weakness, and we may use it with ourselves, to stir us up to greater
strength. You know the difference between slow motion and rapidity. If there were a cannon ball
rolled slowly down these aisles, it might not hurt anybody. It might be very large, very huge, but it
might be so rolled along that you would not rise from your seats in fear. But if somebody would
give me a rifle, with a very small bullet, I reckon that when that bullet flew along the Tabernacle,
you would find it very difficult to remain standing in its way. It is the force that does the thing.
So, it is not the great man who is loaded with learning that will achieve work for God; it is the
man, who, however small his ability, is filled with force and fire, and who rushes forward in the
energy which Heaven has given him, who will accomplish the work. It is the man who has the
most intense spiritual life, who has real vitality at its highest point of tension, and lives with all the
force of his nature for the glory of God. C H Spurgeon.
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