#44.

When God's Word is Preached, it is a Means to Assurance of Faith

Colossians 1:2123 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. How amazing is the grace of God! See what He does in the Gospel, according to Paul in his letter to the Colossians. He takes those who are evildoers, strangers and hostile to Him, and reconciles them to Himself through the death of His son on the cross. As a result, they can come into His presence "holy and blameless and beyond reproach". If we even begin to comprehend this, can we find the words to describe such mercy? It is such staggering grace that Paul seems to anticipate a reaction in his readers: "How can I be sure this has happened to me?" His answer is quite simple - "you have to keep on believing what was preached to you in the Gospel". Here are the grounds for salvation, and here is the hope of eternal glory through the blood of Christ. Leave these things, and you will show that you never truly believed on Christ in the first place. Add some other basis for your salvation to the finished work of Christ, or plot some other route to heaven which includes a contribution from yourself, and you will show that you are still alienated from God, still hostile to him in your mind. Understand then, that the surest way to lose your assurance of salvation, or even to demonstrate that you were never saved at all, is to become careless about being present when the Gospel is preached. If you are there, the Word will search your heart and you will have a constant reminder of the truths of the faith, a continual benchmark against which you can check your own heart. The Spirit of God will testify to you that you are a child of God and will comfort you in times of doubt. You will be more able and willing to repent if you find yourself drifting from the faith and hope of the Gospel. And if it should be that you have never truly rested in Christ for salvation, that will become abundantly clear and you will be able to seek Him for the grace of repentance. But if you are infrequent hearers of the Word, it is obvious, isn't it, that you will lack this means to test yourself? You will not have this ability to be comforted in doubt, to be awakened in spiritual slumber, to be rebuked in carelessness. What could be the result but a certain decline and a growing lack of assurance? The preaching of the Word is a wonderful blessing to us from God! How sad that it is so undervalued, denigrated and even mocked among those who call themselves Christians today. Let's not fall into that trap ourselves, but rather make sure we take full advantage of all the benefits God is willing to supply through this means of grace.

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