The Advantages of Assurance

by Thomas Brooks
(Continued from page 179)

1. Assurance will very much sweeten that little oil that is in the cruse, and that handful of meal that is in the barrel, 1 Kings 17: 8-16. Assurance will be sauce to all meats, it will make all mercies to taste like mercies. It will make Daniel’s pulse to be as sweet as princes’ delicacies, Daniel 1: 8, 12. It will make Lazarus’s rags as pleasurable as Dives’s robes, Luke 16: 20. It will make Jacob’s bed upon the stones, to be as soft as those beds of down and ivory, that sinful great ones stretch themselves upon, Gen. 28: 18; Amos 6: 4. Look, as the want of assurance embitters all a sinner’s mercies, that he cannot taste the sweetness and goodness of them; so the enjoyment of assurance casts a general beauty and glory upon the believer’s meanest mercy. And hence it is, that assured souls live so sweetly, and walk so cheerfully, when their little all is upon their backs and in their hands; whereas the great men of the world, that have the world at will, but lack this assurance that is more worth than the world, live as slaves and servants to these mercies, Job 20: 22. In the midst of all their abundance they are in straits and perplexities, full of fears and cares; nothing pleases them, nor is sweet unto them, because they lack that assurance that sweetens to a believer the ground he stands on, the air he breathes, the seat he sits on, the bread he eats, the clothes he wears, &c. Ah! were there more assurance among Christians, they would not count great mercies small mercies, and small mercies no mercies. No, no! then every mercy on this side hell would be a great mercy, then every mercy would be a sugared mercy, a perfumed mercy. Look, as the tree that Moses cast into the waters of Marah made those bitter waters sweet, Exod. 15: 23-25, so assurance is that tree of life that makes every bitter sweet, and every sweet more sweet.

2. Assurance will make a man more like an angel. It will make him full of motion, full of action; it will make him imitate the angels, those princes of glory, that are always busy and active to advance the glory of Christ. They are still a-singing the song of the Lamb; they are still pitching their tents about them that fear the Lord, Ps. 34: 7; they are ministering spirits sent forth for the good of them that are heirs of salvation, Heb. 1: 14. Assurance will make a man fervent, constant, and abundant in the work of the Lord, as you may see in Paul. The assured Christian is more motion than notion, more work than word, more life than lip, more hand than tongue. When he hath done one work, he is a-calling out for another. What is the next, Lord, says the assured soul, what is the next? His head and his heart are set upon his work, and what he doth, he doth it with all his might, because there is no working in the grave. An assured Christian will put his hand to any work; he will put his shoulder to any burden; he will put his neck in any yoke for Christ; he never thinks that he hath done enough, he always thinks that he hath done too little; and when he hath done all he can, he sits down sighing it out, “I am but an unprofitable servant.”

In a word, assurance will have a powerful influence upon thy heart. In all the duties and services of religion, nothing will make a man love like this and live like this; nothing will make a man humble and thankful, contented and cheerful, like this. Nothing will make a man more serious in prayer, more ingenuous in praises, than this; nothing will make a man more cheerful and joyful than this; nothing will make a man more fit to live and more willing to die than this.

Ah, Christians! if ever you would act as angels in this world, get an assurance of another world; then you shall be neither dumb nor dull any more, but be active and lively, like those whose hopes and whose hearts are in heaven.

1. Assurance will sweeten Christ, and the precious things of Christ, to thy soul. Ah! how sweet is the person of Christ, the natures of Christ, the aims of Christ, the offices of Christ, the benefits of Christ, the blood of Christ, the word of Christ, the threatenings of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the ordinances of Christ, the smiles of Christ, the kisses of Christ, to an assured soul! Now thy meditations on Christ will be no more a terror, nor a horror to thee; nay, now thy heart will be always best, when you are most in pondering upon the sweetness and goodness, the kindness and loveliness, of the Lord Jesus. Now all the institutions and administrations of Christ will be precious to thee. Upon everything where Christ hath set his name, there thou wilt set thy heart. Now thou wilt call things as Christ calls them, and count things as Christ counts them; that shall not be a little in thy eye that is great in the eye of Christ; neither shall that be great in thy eye that is but little in the eye of Christ.

Assurance will also exceedingly sweeten your carriage to all that bear the image of Christ. It will make you bear with those weak saints whose light is not so clear as yours, whose abilities are not so strong as yours, whose enjoyments are not so high as yours, whose judgments are not so well informed as yours, whose consciences are not so well satisfied as yours, and whose lives are not so amiable as yours.

Assurance makes men of a God-like disposition, ready to forgive, abundant in goodness, admirable in patience. It makes men to study the good of others, and joy in all opportunities wherein they may strengthen the feeble, and comfort the dejected, and enrich the impoverished, and recover the seduced, and enlarge the straitened, and build up the wasted. Verily, the reason why men are so bitter and sour and censorious, is because God hath not given into their bosoms this sweet flower of delight, assurance.

Ah! were their souls fully assured that God had loved them freely, and received them graciously, and justified them perfectly, and pardoned them absolutely, and would glorify them everlastingly, they could not but love where God loves, and own where God owns, and embrace where God embraces, and be one with every one that is one with Jesus. Were there more assurance among Christians, there would be more of David’s and Jonathan’s spirit among Christians than there is this day.

Were there more assurance among Christians, there would be more life and more love, more sweetness and more tenderness. Were there more assurance, there would be less noise, less contention, less division, less distraction, less biting, and less devouring among the saints.

Assurance will make the lion and the calf, the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the bear and the cow, lie down together and feed together, Isa. 11: 6-8. Men that lack assurance love their brethren as flies love the pot. So long as there is any meat in the pot, the flies love it; so those men will love as long as there is an external motive to draw love, but when that ceases, their love ceases.

Dionysius loved his bottles when they were full, but hurled them away when they were empty. So many that lack assurance love the saints while their bags are full, and their houses full of the good things of this life; but when they are empty, then they throw them away, then they cast them off, as Job’s friends did him. Ah! but assurance will make a man love as God loves, and love as long as God loves. The assured Christian will not cease to love so long as the least buds and blossoms of grace appear. Lazarus in his rags is as lovely to an assured Christian as Solomon in his robes. Job is as delightful to him upon the dunghill as David is upon his throne. It is not the outward pomp and bravery, but the inward beauty and glory of saints that is attractive to the assured Christian.

1. The eleventh motive to provoke you to get a well-grounded assurance of your everlasting happiness is this, consider that as there is a great deal of counterfeit knowledge, counterfeit faith, counterfeit love, counterfeit repentance, etc, in the world, so there is a great deal of counterfeit assurance in the world. Many there be that talk high, and look big, and bear it out bravely that they are thus and thus, and that they have such and such glorious assurance, whereas, when their assurance comes to be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, it is found too light; and when it comes to withstand temptations, it is found too weak; and when it should put the soul upon divine action, it is found to be but a lazy presumption. Shall the counterfeit gold that is in the world make men active and diligent to get that which is current, and that will abide the touchstone and the fire? and shall not that counterfeit assurance that is in the world provoke your hearts to be so much the more careful and active to get the well-grounded assurance that God accounts as current, and that will abide his touchstone in the day of discovery, and that will keep a man from shame and blushing when the thrones shall be set and the books shall be opened?

I have been the longer upon these motives to provoke your soul to get a well-grounded assurance, because it is of an eternal concernment to you, and a work to which men’s hearts are too backward.

Though assurance carries a reward in its own bosom, yet few seek after it; though the pains of getting it be nothing to the profit that accompanies it, yet few will sweat to gain it.

If the inducements laid down will not awaken and provoke you to be restless till you have got the “white stone” and “new name”, till you have got the assurance of your pardon in your bosoms, I know not what will.