CONFIRMATION
I WANT YOU TO NOTICE the security which Paul confidently
expected for all the saints. He says--"Who shall confirm you unto
the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ." This is the kind of confirmation which is above all
things to be desired. You see it supposes that the persons are
right, and it proposes to confirm them in the right. It would be
an awful thing to confirm a man in ways of sin and error. Think
of a confirmed drunkard, or a confirmed thief, or a confirmed
liar. It would be a deplorable thing for a man to be confirmed in
unbelief and ungodliness. Divine confirmation can only be enjoyed
by those to whom the grace of God has been already manifested. It
is the work of the Holy Ghost. He who gives faith strengthens and
establishes it: He who kindles love in us preserves it and
increases its flame. What He makes us to know by His first
teaching, the good Spirit causes us to know with greater
clearness and certainty by still further instruction. Holy acts
are confirmed till they become habits, and holy feelings are
confirmed till they become abiding conditions. Experience and
practice confirm our beliefs and our resolutions. Both our joys
and our sorrows, our successes and our failures, are sanctified
to the selfsame end: even as the tree is helped to root itself
both by the soft showers and the rough winds. The mind is
instructed, and in its growing knowledge it gathers reasons for
persevering in the good way: the heart is comforted, and so it is
made to cling more closely to the consoling truth. The grip grows
tighter, and the tread grows firmer, and the man himself becomes
more solid and substantial.
This is not a merely natural growth, but is as distinct a
work of the Spirit as conversion. The Lord will surely give it to
those who are relying upon Him for eternal life. By His inward
working He will deliver us from being "unstable as water," and
cause us to be rooted and grounded. It is a part of the method by
which He saves us--this building us up into Christ Jesus and
causing us to abide in Him. Dear reader, you may daily look for
this; and you shall not be disappointed. He whom you trust will
make you to be as a tree planted by the rivers of waters, so
preserved that even your leaf shall not wither.
What a strength to a church is a confirmed Christian! He is
a comfort to the sorrowful, and a help to the weak. Would you not
like to be such? Confirmed believers are pillars in the house of
our God. These are not carried away by every wind of doctrine,
nor overthrown by sudden temptation. They are a great stay to
others, and act as anchors in the time of church trouble. You who
are beginning the holy life hardly dare to hope that you will
become like them. But you need not fear; the good Lord will work
in you as well as in them. One of these days you who are now a
"babe" in Christ shall be a "father" in the church. Hope for this
great thing; but hope for it as a gift of grace, and not as the
wages of work, or as the product of your own energy.
The inspired apostle Paul speaks of these people as to be
confirmed unto the end. He expected the grace of God to preserve
them personally to the end of their lives, or till the Lord Jesus
should come. Indeed, he expected that the whole church of God in
every place and in all time would be kept to the end of the
dispensation, till the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom should come
to celebrate the wedding-feast with his perfected Bride. All who
are in Christ will be confirmed in Him till that illustrious day.
Has He not said, "Because I live ye shall live also"? He also
said, "I give unto my sheep eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He that
hath begun a good work in you will confirm it unto the day of
Christ. The work of grace in the soul is not a superficial
reformation; the life implanted as the new birth comes of a
living and incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever;
and the promises of God made to believers are not of a transient
character, but involve for their fulfilment the believer's
holding on his way till he comes to endless glory. We are kept by
the power of God, through faith unto salvation. "The righteous
shall hold on his way." Not as the result of our own merit or
strength, but as a gift of free and undeserved favor those who
believe are "preserved in Christ Jesus." Of the sheep of His fold
Jesus will lose none; no member of His Body shall die; no gem of
His treasure shall be missing in the day when He makes up His
jewels. Dear reader, the salvation which is received by faith is
not a thing of months and years; for our Lord Jesus hath
"obtained eternal salvation for us," and that which is eternal
cannot come to an end.
Paul also declares his expectation that the Corinthian
saints would be "Confirmed to the end blameless." This
blamelessness is a precious part of our keeping. To be kept holy
is better than merely to be kept safe. It is a dreadful thing
when you see religious people blundering out of one dishonor into
another; they have not believed in the power of our Lord to make
them blameless. The lives of some professing Christians are a
series of stumbles; they are never quite down, and yet they are
seldom on their feet. This is not a fit thing for a believer; he
is invited to walk with God, and by faith he can attain to steady
perseverance in holiness; and he ought to do so. The Lord is
able, not only to save us from hell, but to keep us from falling.
We need not yield to temptation. Is it not written, "Sin shall
not have dominion over you?" The Lord is able to keep the feet of
His saints; and He will do it if we will trust Him to do so. We
need not defile our garments, we may by His grace keep them
unspotted from the world; we are bound to do this, "for without
holiness no man shall see the Lord."
The apostle prophesied for these believers, that which he
would have us seek after--that we may be preserved, blameless
unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." The revised version has
"unreproveable," instead of "blameless." Possibly a better
rendering would be "unimpeachable." God grant that in that last
great day we may stand free from all charge, that none in the
whole universe may dare to challenge our claim to be the redeemed
of the Lord. We have sins and infirmities to mourn over, but
these are not the kind of faults which would prove us to be out
of Christ; we shall be clear of hypocrisy, deceit, hatred, and
delight in sin; for these things would be fatal charges. Despite
our failings, the Holy Spirit can work in us a character spotless
before men; so that, like Daniel, we shall furnish no occasion
for accusing tongues, except in the matter of our religion.
Multitudes of godly men and women have exhibited lives so
transparent, so consistent throughout, that none could gainsay
them. The Lord will be able to say of many a believer, as he did
of Job, when Satan stood before Him, "Hast thou considered my
servant, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
escheweth evil?" This is what my reader must look for at the
Lord's hands. This is the triumph of the saints--to continue to
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, maintaining our integrity
as before the living God. May we never turn aside into crooked
ways, and give cause to the adversary to blaspheme. Of the true
believer it is written, "He keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not." May it be so written concerning us!
Friend just beginning in the divine life, the Lord can give
you an irreproachable character. Even though in your past life
you may have gone far into sin, the Lord can altogether deliver
you from the power of former habits, and make you an example of
virtue. He can not only make you moral, but He can make you abhor
every false way and follow after all that is saintly. Do not
doubt it. The chief of sinners need not be a whit behind the
purest of the saints. Believe for this, and according to your
faith shall it be unto you.
Oh, what a joy it will be to be found blameless in the day
of judgment! We sing not amiss, when we join in that charming
hymn:
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay;
While through Thy blood absolved I am,
From sin's tremendous curse and shame?
What bliss it will be to enjoy that dauntless courage, when
heaven and earth shall flee away from the face of the Judge of
all! This bliss shall be the portion of everyone who looks alone
to the grace of God in Christ Jesus, and in that sacred might
wages continual war with all sin.
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