INWARD CONFIRMATION OF THE VERACITY
OF THE SCRIPTURES
We are living in a day when confidence
is lacking; when skepticism and agnosticism are becoming more and more
prevalent; and when doubt and uncertainty are made the badges of culture and
wisdom. Everywhere men are demanding proof. Hypotheses and
speculations fail to satisfy: the heart cannot rest content until it is able to
say, “I know.” The demand of the human mind is for definite knowledge and
positive assurance. And God has condescended to meet this need.
One thing which distinguishes
Christianity from all human systems is that it deals with
absolute certainties. Christians are people who know. And well it is that they
do. The issues concerning life and death are so stupendous, the stake involved
in the salvation of the soul is so immense, that we cannot afford to be
uncertain here. None but a fool would attempt to cross a frozen river until he
was sure that the ice was strong enough to bear him. Dare we then face the river of death with nothing but a vague and
uncertain hope to rest upon? Personal assurance is the
crying need of the hour. There can be no peace and joy until this is attained.
A parent who is in suspense concerning the safety of his child, is in agony of
soul. A criminal who lies in the condemned cell hoping for a reprieve, is in
mental torment until his pardon arrives. And a professed Christian who knows
not whether he shall ultimately land in Heaven or Hell, is a pitiable object.
But we say again, real
Christians are people who know. They know that their Redeemer liveth
(John 19:25). They know that they have passed from death unto life (1
John 3:14). They know that all things work together for good (Romans
8:28). They know that if their earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, they have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). They know that one
day they shall see Christ face to face and be made like Him (1 John 3:2). In
the meantime they know whom they have believed, and are persuaded that He
is able to keep that which they have committed unto Him against that day (2
Timothy 1:12). If it be asked, How do they know, the answer is, they
have proven for themselves the trustworthiness of God’s Word which affirms
these things.
The force of this present
argument will appeal to none save those who have an experimental acquaintance
with it. In addition to all the external proofs that we have for the Divine
Inspiration of the Scriptures, the believer has a source of evidence to which
no unbeliever has access. In his own experience the Christian finds a personal
confirmation of the teachings of God’s Word. To the man whose life which,
judged by the standards of the world, appears morally
upright, the statement that “the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked” seems to be the gloomy view of a pessimist, or a
description which has no general application. But the believer has found that
“the entrance of Thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:30), and in the light of
God’s Word and beneath the illuminating power of God’s Spirit who indwells him,
he has discovered there is within him a sink of iniquity. To
natural wisdom, which is fond of philosophizing about the freedom of the human
will, the declaration of Christ that
“No man can come to Me, except
the Father which hath sent Me, draw him” (John 6:44)
seems a hard saying; but, to the
one who has been taught by the Holy Spirit something of
the binding power of sin, such a declaration has been verified in his own
experience. To the one who has done his best to live up to the light which he
had, and has sought to develop an honest and amiable character, such a
statement as, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” seems unduly harsh
and severe; but to the man who has received “an unction from the Holy One,” his
very best works appear to him sordid and sinful; and such
they are. The Apostle’s confession that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth
no good thing” (Romans 7:18) which once appeared absurd to him, the believer
now acknowledges to be his own condition.
The description of the Christian which is found in Romans ... is
something which none but a regenerate person can understand. The things there
mentioned as belonging to the same man at the same time, seem foolish to the
wise of this world; but the believer realizes completely
the truth of it in his own life.
The promises of God can be
tested: their trustworthiness is capable of verification. In the Gospel Christ
promises to give rest to all those who are weary and heavy laden that come unto
Him. He declares that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He
affirms that “whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” In short, the Gospel presents the
Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour. His claim to save can be put to the proof. Yea,
it has been, and that by a multitude of individuals that no man can number.
Many of these are living on earth today. Every individual who has read in the
Scriptures the invitations that are addressed to sinners, and has personally
appropriated them to himself, can say n the words of the well-known hymn:—
“I
came to Jesus as I was.
Weary
and worn and sad;
I
found in Him a resting place
Should these pages be read by a
skeptic who, despite his present unbelief, has a sincere and earnest desire to
know the truth, he, too may put God’s Word to the test and share the experience
described above. It is written, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved,”—believe, my reader, and thou, too, shalt be
saved.
“We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen” (John 3:11).
The Bible testifies to the fact
that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and our own
conscience confirms it. The Bible declares that it is “not
by works of righteousness which we have down, but according to His mercy” God
saves us; and the Christian has proven that he was unable to do anything to win
God’s esteem: but, having cried the prayer of the Publican, he has gone down to
his house justified. The Bible teaches that “if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new;”
and the believer has found that the things he once hated he now
loves, and that the things he hitherto counted gain he now regards as dross.
The Bible witnesses to the fact that we “are kept by the power of God through
faith,” and the believer has proven that though the world, the flesh, and the
devil are arrayed against him, yet the grace of God is sufficient for all his
need. Ask the Christian, then, why he believes that the Bible is the Word of
God, and he will tell you, Because it has done for me what it professes to do
(save); because I have tested its promises for myself;
because I find its teachings verified in my own experiences.
To the unregenerate the Bible is
practically a sealed Book. Even the cultured and educated are unable to
understand its teachings: parts of it appear plain and simple, but much of it
is dark and mysterious. This is exactly what the Bible
declares—
“The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
But to the man of God it is
otherwise:
“He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself” (1 John 5:10).
As the Lord Jesus declared,
“If any man will do His will, he
shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17).
While the infidel stumbles in
darkness, even in the midst of light, the believer discovers the evidence of
its truth in himself with the clearness of a sunbeam.
“For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2
Corinthians 4:6).