Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense… Presumption and fear are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Christian life, and it requires Divine guidance, together with all our own watchfulness, to steer safely between them. My object is, to suit the case of those who are well entitled to hope for the Divine mercy through Christ Jesus, but are disquieting themselves, or are disquieted by the enemy with needless fears. 1. "I cannot indulge the hope that I am a Christian," one will say, "because I have never passed through the same religious exercises and experiences that others profess to have felt and enjoyed; have known no such deep convictions; have no such clear assurance of my acceptance with God." God has brought many sons to glory, but I do not suppose that any two of them have been led thither in precisely the same way, or have been exercised with precisely the same feelings. If in the main, our experiences correspond with the Word of God, in the great points of faith and love, it need not disquiet us though we never heard of another case exactly like our own. 2. But another desponding one says, "If I were truly a child of God, sin would not prevail against me as I find it does." So long as there is determined war against sin, there is ground for hope. 3. Still one may be ready to reply, "I find that sin not only prevails against me, but I seem to be worse than when I first strove against it; my heart appears to grow more wicked; my corruptions, stronger, and my strength to resist to be less." To perceive more of our sin than usual, does not always prove that we are more sinful, but often the reverse; just as when one cleanses a room, though the air is filled with dust floating in the sunbeams, there is no more of it actually there than before, and there will soon be less of it as the operation goes on. We do not know the strength of our evil passions until we begin to oppose them. When one is making a special effort to lead a Christian life, then he is especially tempted and hindered. 4. Another class of disquieted ones affirm that they cannot hope they are true Christians, because they seem to love everything else more than God; If this were really true, we should have no encouragement to offer, for if God be not loved supremely we cannot be His children. But, in estimating our love to God, compared with our love to earthly things, we are not to conclude that we love that most which most excites our affections. It has well been remarked, "that a man may be more moved when he sees a friend that has long been absent, and seem to regard him more for the moment than he does his own wife and children, and yet none would think that the friend was loved the most"; so neither must we conclude, because when we are abroad in the world we find our affections vehemently stirred towards its various objects, that therefore they are supreme in our hearts. We should judge of our comparative affection by asking ourselves soberly, which of the two objects we should prefer to part withy 5. Again, it is urged by some that there is great danger of self-deception; that a person may, in appearance, be like a Christian, and yet be really destitute of any true piety, and they fear lest they should fall into the same error. The fear is usually the best remedy against the thing feared, and none are farther from the danger of making a false profession than those who are most afraid of it. 6. Some, again, have fears that they are not true Christians, because they come so far short of the attainments of some eminent Christians of their acquaintance. We reply, that the worst part of the character of those exalted saints may not be known to us, or they may not have our hindrances, or they may have been long in growing up to that state, while we are only babes in Christ. 7. Another class may say, that they cannot think any real Christian ever was so tempted and distressed with evil thoughts as they are. We reply, Job was tempted to curse God, and Christ Himself to worship Satan. We may have very wicked thoughts entering our minds, but if we do not delight in them, if we strive against them, and they are painful to us, they are no evidence against us. The very fact that they grieve us and we resist them, is in our favour. 8. Another class of the discouraged and fearful say, that they have doctrinal difficulties, that certain things in the Bible do not appear clear to them, and they fear to make any public confession of Christ till these are made plain. The best way to solve doctrinal difficulties is to engage in practical duties. But it would be endless to recount all the ways in which doubts and fears assail us. Their name is Legion, and our prayer should be that Christ would command them to come out of the man who is troubled with them, and to enter no more into him. Many seem to think that they show a commendable spirit by cherishing such fears. But there is no humility in doubting God's promises. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. |
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