April 29 Daily Devotional

Blessed assurance!

It is the Holy Spirit alone who finally can give us an un­shakable assurance of salvation.... There are three main ways in which assurance comes to us.... The first is that which is to be obtained by believing and applying to ourselves the bare word of the Scripture as the authoritative word of God.... There is God's word; we believe it and rest upon it....

We need something further, which is the second ground of assurance. The First Epistle of John provides us with ... certain tests of spiritual life: (i) "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." (ii) ... Because we no longer find the commandments of the Lord to be grievous. They are a delight to us.... (iii) We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. (iv) We are aware of the Spirit working in us. (v) We examine ourselves to see if any of the Spirit's fruit is being manifested in us. If we find these things, we can be assured that we are born again....

There is, yet, however, a further form of assurance. It is the highest and most certain of all.... "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God..." [Romans 8:15-17]. This is not a form of assurance that I may deduce from the Scriptures or from evidences which I find in myself. Here is a direct witness of the Spirit....

Here is some­thing that the Spirit Himself alone can give us. It is He alone who can speak with a final authority which gives me certitude with regard to my being a child of God, a certitude as great, or greater indeed, as my certainty with regard to anything else in life; ... the saints throughout the centuries ... declare that the Holy Spirit made them so certain of the reality and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for them that they were more certain of that than of any other fact whatsoever [see also 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13, 14].

Authority, pp. 76-8

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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