Full Assurance Of Faith
The genius of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the pre-eminence given to the Lord Jesus Christ, showing Him to be the fulfilment of the types and shadows of the Mosaic law with its sacrifices and rituals. The Levitical priesthood points to Christ’s office as our Great High Priest. The legal sacrifices prefigured the unique and perfect sacrifice Christ offered for us. Hebrews explains that the gospel does not modify the law of Moses. It supersedes and abolishes it.
Grace pleases God
We have seen how the person of Christ and all aspects of gospel revelation, from electing grace to final glory, please the Lord Jehovah. This is no surprise. The covenant of peace and the plan of redemption is designed according to the will and good pleasure of God. God’s pleasure in the gospel is distinguished from the law which cannot ‘make the comers thereunto perfect’. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. Therefore, ‘God had no pleasure in them’.
Our successful Saviour
The writer to the Hebrews teaches us that the Lord Jesus makes sinners perfect by successfully satisfying God’s justice and answering His demands for holiness. Our verses show us we have a new and living way to come to God by Christ’s death; we have a High priest whose intercession succeeds where no other could so that we may come to God with boldness and confidence.
Our personal interest
The gospel is not simply a set of doctrines. The gospel is the finished work of the Lord Jesus that has uniquely and completely secured the deliverance from sin and everlasting glory of God’s elect people. Our faith is not in a creed or confession of faith but in the success of Christ. We believe the Lord Jesus accomplished our salvation on the cross and His success gained eternal salvation for all for whom He died.
Salvation accomplished
This real deliverance is the foundation of our faith. Our assurance as believers is not in the strength of our convictions, or in our understanding of doctrine or even our personal dedication to the Christian life. Our confidence – the writer here calls it heart-assurance or full assurance – is in the trustworthiness and faithfulness of God in Christ. At the cross the Lord Jesus objectively secured our salvation and cleansed us from sin – washing us with pure water. The Holy Spirit has revealed this truth by the preached word and applied it in our hearts. This gives us peace from conviction of sin and freedom from ‘an evil conscience’.
The profession of faith
Now we are encouraged to ‘hold fast’ this gospel of accomplished redemption ‘without wavering’. There is every reason to doubt our own strength in spiritual matters but no reason to doubt God’s will and purpose to fulfil what He has promised. Our assurance as believers flows from God’s faithfulness. We believe He has done what He has said He has done. We trust He will yet do what He has promised to do. Believing and trusting is as simple as that.
Sovereign grace gives full assurance
Full assurance is justified only by sovereign grace. Freewill implies creature ability and denies total depravity. It makes man the author of his own salvation. Freewill allows Christ’s blood has made salvation possible but denies it actually saves anyone. It limits the power of the Holy Ghost and gives no ground for eternal security. Our confidence as believers is in our sovereign God who is faithful to His word. Our heavenly hope and daily comfort is in a well-ordered covenant and a successful Saviour.
Amen
Peter Meney is the Pastor of New Focus Church Online and the Editor of "New Focus Magazine" and publisher of sovereign grace material under the Go Publications imprint. The purpose and aim of the magazine and books is to spread as widely as possible the gospel of Jesus Christ and the message of free, sovereign grace found in the Holy Bible, the Word of God.
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