Today we continue to worship the Lord in studying His Word and attending to His Word. And perhaps some of you are surprised that I am administering the Word of God today, but you might know that in July there are five Sundays, not four. And I have therefore volunteered to take the extra Sunday, since all the teammates are quite overloaded as it is. So we will continue our study in this series on regeneration and renewal. And today I need to look at a very important subject which has to do with assurance. Perfection in relation to assurance. And as you know our series has to do with regeneration, renewal, and perfection. And I seldom touch on the subject of assurance, but it so happens that today we will be speaking, expounding from the Word of God concerning assurance.
Now people very naturally in this world, a world full of insecurity, seek assurance. I might say even seek it desperately. Because there is a deep sense among people in this world, a deep sense of insecurity. And you can hardly blame the people in this world, because where in this world do you find security? Life seems always to be hanging upon a thread, always vulnerable, always open to attack from all kinds of sources: economic dangers, dangers from disease, dangers from automobiles. Consider the slaughter upon our roads every day. Every year, more people die on the roads of North America than ever fell on the battlefields of Vietnam. Tens of thousands of people are killed and crippled every year in automobile accidents alone. Unsung heroes of the road. Unsung victims of the road. Tens of thousands.
And the figure, if we put the whole figure of those who were killed, maimed, crippled by people throughout the world, I don't know what the figure might be. But there are always the unexpected things. Accidents are unexpected. That's why they're called accidents. You go out happily in the morning, you might not come back at night. Accidents. But then, we have also the threat from people whose minds seem to be unbalanced for some reason or other. During the last week, I think many of you who look at the news will see the horrors of what happened at San Diego. When people went into a McDonald's restaurant with their children to have a hamburger, the terrors that came from just going for the rather innocent enjoyment of a hamburger turned into a complete bloodbath. As some mad gunman went into McDonald's in San Diego and shot to death... The death count up to now is 22 or 23 people. 22, 23 people, most of them children, or at least half of them seem to have been children, were shot to death by some fellow who carried three guns into McDonald's and just shot everybody in sight for no other reason than misanthropy, that is, hatred of mankind.
There are people in this world who are so sick of each other, so sick of mankind that they will kill anybody in sight for no reason whatsoever. Well, eventually, this killer, who seemed to have become bitter simply because he lost his job, decided to take it out on a bunch of innocent people sitting in a McDonald's restaurant who never did him any harm. And finally, a police SWAT team surrounded the place and a police marksman shot him to death. But there was already carnage, slaughter. People, the oldest of whom were some 70, over 70 years old, to an infant of less than nine months old. Everybody he shot in sight, systematically walking up and down between the tables and chairs and firing his automatic weapon away at everybody in sight.
Insecurity. I mean, one day you are sitting in McDonald's, you wonder if some crazy guy will come in and shoot you down in cold blood. For no reason at all, simply he hates any human being, and because you happen to be the first human being he sees that day, he is going to shoot you down in cold blood. And it is quite remarkable how many murders are committed today with no known motive. The police have no motive. They don't know why this thing was done. In fact, probably there was no motive except misanthropy, which means hatred of mankind generally. Life begins to become pretty terrifying because this sort of thing, of course, as you know, happens quite often. It is not a rare occurrence. Time and again you have some gunman go wild and start shooting everybody on the streets. And people, passers-by, are just being shot down for no reason but that they happen to walk by his window. The hatred of mankind. Hatred has built up in the world. Hatred because of sin. Mindless hatred. No explanation is given, no explanation is needed except that these people are hating everybody. And that makes life pretty insecure.
We call these people insane but they are not that insane. It's just that they have come to hate, learned to hate mankind. And the world has unfortunately an awful lot of such people. Why were all those babies killed in the Toronto hospital? So many babies were given an overdose of some other drug. I forgot what was the drug. Just injected some poison into their veins. Little babies who haven't had a chance to say one bad word to anybody yet. And they are still trying to find out who did this crazy thing. But the motive simply is hatred of mankind. Whoever happens to be at your mercy and this person is out of his mind, his hatred is out of control. Life is very insecure.
Some people go harmlessly to a restaurant to eat some food. And it has happened time and again they got poisoned. Sometimes due to carelessness, sometimes due to deliberateness. Food poisoning. And this goes on and on because in a sense we are always at the mercy of somebody else. Whether you go to a restaurant, you sit in a car, you sit in a bus. A few days ago a father drove his three children into the lake. He drove his car into the lake with himself. Where? Sorel. That's where we had our summer camp last year. Right there in Sorel, you know the river or the wider parts are called the lake. He just drove his car with his children into the lake. Motive? Because apparently he was facing, as some of you read the news, facing a divorce. He couldn't face a divorce. He decided to die and take his children with him. One daughter, about twelve or thirteen, managed to open the window of the car and get out. She was the only survivor of the three children. The others, including the father, drowned.
Life is indeed insecure in this world. Tragic, sad. But if you think your chances of being shot to death usually is by some crazy marksman, then you haven't got quite the picture together yet. A few months ago some guy was sleeping peacefully in his motel room and suddenly the guns started going and he was shot to death by the police. Two police officers simply opened fire on the motel room, shooting through the windows and doors and killing this guy. And then of course it turned out that it was a case of mistaken identity. They thought that he was some escaped convict who was armed and dangerous, and this poor fellow was nothing more dangerous than a carpet salesman or something like this. Pitiful. Sleeping in bed and then suddenly he hears the gunfire, he sits up, and he is shot to death by a couple of policemen.
Life is getting really insecure. You don't know who is going to shoot at you. Maybe you look like some criminal. You have the misfortune of looking like some criminal that they are hunting and you might be shot to death before you have a chance to identify yourself. Simply because the police officers are too nervous and this killer is too dangerous. You begin to wonder how you're going to survive in this kind of jungle that the world is in. The mother of a friend of mine was walking on the sidewalk peacefully and a car comes up the sidewalk by somebody who doesn't know how to drive and kills her, peacefully walking on the sidewalk. I mean you can't even walk safely on the sidewalk anymore. You'll probably have to look in all directions and it'll turn you into a nervous wreck if you're going to live like this. Another person is walking below on the street and somebody's flower pot drops down and kills the person on the head. The ways of dying are simply too many. You could die by any number of means because somebody was careless with a flower pot. You're dead.
No wonder. No wonder that people are beginning to get very desperate. The need, the craving for security. And it is this craving for security that makes the insurance business in North America a multi-million, multi-billion, I should say, profit organization. Wow, they sell insurance. Do they ever sell insurance? Life insurance, house insurance, fire insurance, health insurance, and if you're a doctor, you're going to have insurance against malpractice. And apparently today pastors have to get insurance for malpractice too. Because lately there was a pastor by the name of MacArthur down in the States who got sued because of some action that he took against some person in his church. And so he was sued for malpractice as a pastor. So nowadays they are selling malpractice insurance also for pastors. This thing is getting really out of hand. You dare not go anywhere without so many types of insurance.
And when you fly, you better take out insurance for this because your baggage might disappear or your flight may be cancelled or your holiday package may be cancelled, so you need insurance for this, insurance for that. Well, of course I am not quite sure what you do with life insurance because if you get killed you can hardly benefit from the life insurance. Maybe somebody else might benefit from it but you certainly don't benefit from that. But whatever kind of insurance, the insurance companies are doing a thriving business. Health insurance. Many countries really do another multi-million business on health insurance because of course disease can strike you at any time. Maybe a fatal disease, a crippling disease. And every time you feel insecure, I don't know what's going to happen to me next, maybe next time I'm walking on the sidewalk some car will mount the sidewalk and hit me. And then I'm without medical insurance. Today it's very expensive to get any kind of operation. You just buy a small bottle of medicine and it comes to $12, $15 in an operation you did not think about.
So the world is insecure and we need insurance or assurance. Assurance. In fact, assurance and insurance are the same word. You have life assurance or life insurance, they mean the same thing. Now in the church, we don't talk about insurance because that sounds a little bit too financial. It talks about the payment you have to make to get the security you want. But we really talk about assurance, which in fact is the same word. In fact, the two words stem from the same root as the Oxford English Dictionary tells us.
And we talk about assurance. And is there ever so much talk about assurance? And millions of people today turn to religion because they think that maybe the best insurance company of all is the church or some other form of religion. And of course, there are always the practitioners in the church who, as Paul says in Philippians, their god is their belly, who profit from the sense of insecurity in man. Man is such an insecure creature. And there are always unscrupulous people ready to take advantage of this sense of insecurity. And they can turn religion into a very profitable business by selling assurance or insurance, whichever word you prefer, because they mean the same thing.
Insurance, what does it mean? Insurance is to get security. Assurance is the feeling of security. That's what it is. And one looks for this. But if you are wise, I say to you, dear ones, even in this world you know that if you get an insurance policy that covers you for everything, from hay fever to death, at a very low premium, then you ought to be suspicious that something is not quite in order. I mean, if they can assure you for $200 a year, for absolutely everything you ever need, and promises you in return just about everything you want, then you ought to be looking very carefully at this. There's something fishy going on.
But the church is even better than that. I mean, the church can outdo any insurance company. Because in fact, it gives you eternal assurance for nothing. Nothing on your part. No commitment. And this, we are told, is what grace means. Well, unless I have totally mistaken the meaning of grace in the Bible, which I trust I have not, then I don't think you are on the right track if you are going to swallow that kind of insurance. Of course, when you join church membership, there is sometimes a little clause which says that you must give 10% of your income to that particular church. This little clause, of course, is not payment for assurance. This is simply thankfulness for the free grace. So the free grace turns out to be a bit less than free because 10% of your income can be quite a substantial payment. And I know of quite a few churches, especially Chinese churches, that you must pledge 10% of your income when you become a member of that church. So there are little things in the small print that turns out that grace is a little bit less free than it was supposed to be in the beginning. I find this kind of practice is quite underhanded, quite detestable.
And today, the sale of assurances through religion is really a vast business. Vast. And I tell you, that's a billion dollar business. Transcendental meditation and other exotic kinds of religion are cashing in on the sense of insecurity. Oh, it is. The fear of death. Can you insure against that? Oh, no. No insurance company in this world can insure you on that. But religion can. At least to a considerable extent. There is the advantage of religion. And what about the fear of the judgment? The fear of going to hell? The fear of eternal destruction? Can any insurance company in this world insure you against that? Oh, no. I mean, even if you offer to pay them ten thousand a year to insure you that you will not get to hell, there is no insurance company that will dare to take such an offer. But the church can. Oh, yes. And other types of religion that might make the same offer. They at least suggest that they can insure you through their doctrines, through their teaching, and membership in their church will give you the assurance that you need.
And the churches have not failed to cash in on this sense of insecurity that has plagued all mankind. And they too have done things like offering something called unconditional assurance, whatever that might be. Oh, yes. Unconditional. That's more astonishing than anything you've heard, because there is, in fact, even no human assurance that is unconditional. And yet, there are people who dare to suggest the possibility, no, indeed the reality, of unconditional assurance. Now, it is beyond my understanding how gullible human beings can become. Gullible means you accept a thing to be true without having carefully examined the evidence. Human beings are so desperate for security, they will clutch at any straw. Do you believe in unconditional assurance because the church says so? And what when this is covered up by some misuse of the word grace? How convincing it sounds.
Let us turn to the Word of God. Let us turn to the Bible, because we, in this church, and let none of you ever dare, without the authority of God's Word, to cash in, as it were, on this type of sense of insecurity, and to say, here we offer you unconditional assurance. This is deceitful. Not necessarily intentionally deceitful, but it is deceitful, because it is without authority in the Word of God. When we turn to the Word of God, we find something rather remarkable happening. Just turn to your concordance, and look for the word assurance. Look for the word assurance, or any related group of words you like, any synonyms of that word, and see how many you can find. You'll be surprised how few times this kind of word occurs in the Bible. I have done it, I know. Look at the evidence, don't be gullible.
In the Old Testament, the word assurance, in the King James Version, occurs only twice. In the whole Old Testament, 39 books of the Old Testament, it occurs twice. That should make you think. The word assurance occurs twice. Let's look at these two instances. And even these two instances will show you that it doesn't give you that much assurance. The first is in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy 28 and verse 66. We have no time to read the entire passage. The whole passage which you should read in its context begins at verse 58 of chapter 28 of Deuteronomy. Let me just read a few lines from verse 58 so you get the context. And this is what Yahweh says to Israel: "If you, Israel, are not careful to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awful name, Yahweh your God, then Yahweh will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting." Let us read verse 61: "Every sickness also and every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring upon you until you are destroyed." Wow, those are powerful words. Until you are destroyed. And verse 63: "And as Yahweh took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so Yahweh will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of."
If that is not enough, let's keep on reading. But let's skip a lot of passages and we'll jump to verse 66: "Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life." Two occurrences of assurance in the Old Testament and the first one is no assurance, not assurance, but no assurance. In fact, so startling is this passage that Yahweh says that all the promises of good that He promised to His people Israel, He will revoke all the promises. He will take back His promises. Even a promise will be taken back. Look at verse 68: "And Yahweh will bring you back." He took you out of Egypt. Now He'll bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again. And there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, and no one will want to buy you. I mean, to be a slave is bad enough, but to be a slave that nobody wants to buy, that is the absolute limit. That is even worse than a slave. Nobody even wants you. And the promise that I made to you that when I have taken you out of Egypt, I will never bring you back again is transferred. Why? Because you have disobeyed My word, and you will have no assurance of life.
Assurance. Assurance in the Bible is based on one thing only. No unconditional assurance is found in the Bible. None whatsoever. And anyone who tells you that you have unconditional assurance is a liar. Because the Bible has no such thing. There is assurance only for the righteous. Let's turn to the second passage where the word assurance occurs in the Old Testament. And that is in Isaiah 32. Isaiah 32 and verse 17. In some of our translations the word assurance does not appear, but it does appear in the King James Version. "And the effect of righteousness will be peace. And the result of righteousness, quietness and trust or confidence forever." Now the word trust in some of your translations is the word assurance in the King James Version. But the result of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Eternal confidence, confidence forever, is based on the absolute condition of righteousness in the Bible. And only to the righteous is this promise made. Where do you find unconditional assurance?
Now these are the only two occurrences of assurance in the whole Old Testament. You need only turn to your concordance and you will see. There is one more expression in the King James Version translated as "assured peace." Assured peace. Now that sounds pretty good too. So let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 14 verse 13. Jeremiah 14 and verse 13 to look at this assured peace. And then it doesn't turn out to be quite as good as it sounds. Jeremiah 14:13: "Then I," that is Jeremiah, "said, 'Ah, Lord Yahweh, behold, the prophets say to them, "You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place."'" This is what the prophets were saying to Israelites: you will not see famine, you will not see war, I, that is Yahweh, the prophets are speaking for Yahweh, will give you assured peace in this place, in Israel. But look at verse 14: "And Yahweh said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.'" Ah, just when we found in the concordance "assured peace," it turns out that this term assured peace is spoken by false prophets, and there goes all the assurance again.
Now you look in the concordance and look for yourself. Don't be gullible. In this world where people are so desperately insecure, don't clutch at every straw. Hold on only to the living God. There are no doctrines that are going to save you. It is God who will save you or you will not be saved at all. Don't put your trust in doctrines but in the Lord alone, and test every doctrine to see whether it be in the Word of God. For if you do not do so you will be in a sad shape indeed, because the world is full of people who preach peace and security when there is no peace.
And not only in the Old Testament. Look at the New Testament. Let us turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 3. The first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 3. I read to you from verse 2. 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 2: "For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord," the day when the Lord will come again, the day of judgment, "will come like a thief in the night." Verse 3: "When people say, 'There is peace and security,' then suddenly destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape." When people are saying to you, "Hey, take it easy, don't you worry, come to me, come to our church, we give you insurance for all eternity, peace and security," suddenly destruction will come upon them. It seems that the message of peace and security presented in these unconditional terms, unconditional assurance, in the Bible is the message of false prophets. Look for yourself and see. Paul here in Thessalonians warns us of any such kind of message of peace and security given in some unconditional way.
In the New Testament the situation is not very different. Search the New Testament. Back to your concordance. Look under assurance and you will find that only one word in the New Testament is translated by the word assurance in your King James Version, and that is the word in Greek called plerophoria. Plerophoria. This word occurs a few times, only four times in the New Testament in fact, and let's look at it. Let's look at it. Since eternal security is being offered to us, by all means let's look carefully at it. First of all in Colossians chapter 2, verse 2.
# Perfection in Relation to Assurance (Part 2)
And it says that their hearts, the hearts of the fellow Christians, may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, that is, of Christ. Christ is God's mystery. And that their hearts may be encouraged. How? As they are knit together in love and then to have all the riches of assured understanding. Now here assurance does not stand by itself at all. Assurance is linked to understanding. And this understanding is spiritual understanding, the understanding of spiritual things. And that is to say, you only have assurance from the Lord when you have spiritual understanding. That means the understanding becomes a condition of the assurance. If you don't have this understanding, of course you don't have assurance. It is an assured understanding.
What do I mean by understanding? The Greek word synesis. In Greek, on the carnal level, refers to intelligence. An intelligent person can be defined as a person who is very quick to understand. When you say something, you explain something, the mark of intelligence is that he quickly understands what you mean. And we say of a person who is very slow to understand that he is not very intelligent. But a person who is quick to understand is what we see as a person who is intelligent. He sees quickly the point. He knows what you are getting at. But there are others who explain this way and explain that way: "No, I don't understand." You explain another way: "No, I don't understand." And you say, ah, very unintelligent. He is very slow to understand the meaning of anything. Intelligence is the capacity to perceive the meaning of what you are getting at. That is what the word synesis means.
And there is a prayer of the Lord Jesus in Matthew when He says, "Dear Father, I thank You that You have not revealed these spiritual things to the wise and the synesis, the understanding, the intelligent people of this world. Your spiritual truth has not been revealed to them, but You have revealed them to babes." Because these people are spiritually understanding. A person may be humanly very intelligent, but when it comes to spiritual things, they are very dull, very stupid. They can't grasp spiritual things. And there are other people who may not be highly intelligent spiritually, humanly speaking, but are very quick to understand spiritual things. The grace of God enables them quickly to perceive spiritual meaning. And there are people, of course, who are intelligent or understanding in both senses, both spiritually and humanly.
Last week I shared concerning our summer camp speaker, Brother Jeffrey, how he is very perceptive spiritually. Where for most people the material things are the real things and the spiritual things are the shadows, but to the spiritually understanding man, spiritually perceptive man, the man with spiritual insight (and the word synesis here also means insight), it is the spiritual things which are the real things and the material things are only the shadows. Just as it is in the book of Hebrews. And this is what Colossians 2:2 is saying. Assurance comes from understanding. The quick spiritual perception that comes from a heart that is freed from sin, a heart that is totally committed to Christ. Such people receive quick spiritual understanding. Now, of course, people with spiritual insight are people with assurance. There is no doubt about that. But the condition of assurance is indeed the insight. And with this, we can see that there is no such thing as unconditional assurance.
The second occurrence of the word plerophoria is found in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 11. Hebrews 6:11. And this is what we read in 6:11: "And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Nobody unconditionally inherits promises. But as this verse tells us, they inherit the promises through two things: faith and endurance, or patience. The faith that endures to the end, that maintains patience under all kinds of pressure. There are no unconditional promises. Just as we saw in Deuteronomy, when promises were given to Israel and they were disobedient, stiff-necked, rebellious, the promises were revoked. They were saved out of Egypt. But because of their disobedience, they would be sent back to Egypt. And so in the New Testament, too, the promises are always conditional. Conditional upon faith and endurance, or patience.
And here it speaks of the full assurance of hope. Exegetically, this is a difficult phrase. And I won't go into the technical difficulties relating to the exegesis of this verse. The difficulty of exegesis hinges on the genitive case. And the Greek genitive has at least six possible meanings. And which of these six possible meanings to take is sometimes difficult to establish except from the context. And even if we simplify it down to the question of whether this is a subjective genitive or an objective genitive, we still have sufficient difficulties to deal with. But I don't want to confuse you. But I say this especially for the sake of the full-time teams, that exegesis often is a difficult and skilled task. And even with the skills, it is not always easy to establish what the precise meaning is.
Assurance of hope. Is it objective genitive or is it subjective genitive? Is it the assurance that comes from hope, subjective genitive? Or is it the assurance that we have in relation to our hope, objective genitive? These are two different meanings. In other words, there is a hope that is in the future, and I have assurance concerning that hope which is in the future. Since hope is not yet realized, I have assurance from the Lord concerning that future hope. Or is it assurance which I derive from that hope, which is very much less likely, since hope is hardly a ground for assurance? But whichever the case is, we see that assurance here is linked to hope.
The third occurrence of plerophoria, of assurance, is in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 22. 10:22. And this is what we read in Hebrews 10:22: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Here we come to the hope again. Because we might let go of the hope. That's why it was said about assurance of hope, that we hold on to it. Hold fast the assurance without letting go, without wavering. Hebrews always warns us of the possibility of letting go of that hope. And so He is exhorting the Christians to hold fast.
And here in verse 22 it speaks of the assurance of faith. Now that's very important. Because the condition of assurance is a faith that is found in a heart which is clean, a heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and a heart that is true, faithful, genuine. Oh, so many conditions: genuine, clean. Because without the genuineness and without the cleanness you cannot have a genuine and a clean faith. Now faith is in the Scripture the fundamental ground of assurance, the fundamental condition of assurance. Because in a sense assurance is contained in faith. Because a faith that doubts, a faith that wavers, is not really faith in the New Testament. Faith should not waver. Faith contains within itself a certainty and a confidence. Therefore faith must of necessity be the very foundation and essence of assurance. It also follows that the weaker your faith is, so also the less your assurance is. Because by definition we think of a weak faith that tends to hesitate, that tends to waver. And waver by very definition means the lack of assurance.
Hebrews chapter 11:1 tells us, the next chapter here, that faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Here the word assurance is a different word altogether from plerophoria. In fact, whether that word can be translated as assurance is doubtful. The word is hypostasis, which means faith is the substance of things hoped for. It doesn't really mean assurance at all. It means the inner substance of a thing. But even if we take it as assurance, it still shows that faith is the only ground of assurance. Therefore, it follows very clearly: we are justified by faith, and we have assurance by faith. There is no other way you are going to have assurance.
But having spoken of plerophoria, technically I should also tell you that the word does not necessarily mean assurance, as you need only turn to the authoritative Arndt and Gingrich Greek and English lexicon to find out. Because the word plerophoria can just mean fullness. It actually comes from the word pleroo. All of you will know the word pleroo, pleroo, to fill, pleroo, to be full. Plerophoria is to bring fullness. That's what it means. And so, even Arndt and Gingrich is not entirely sure that the word means assurance. So that having looked at the very word that is translated assurance, it turns out that we cannot be absolutely sure that it means assurance, but simply it may mean fullness. And that means satisfaction, filled with a certain inner spiritual satisfaction that comes from hope or from faith or from understanding. But I will not quibble about the meaning of this word even from the dictionary. We will just accept that it means assurance for our purpose. That's perfectly alright.
And then we can go on to the last reference, 1 Thessalonians 1:5. We turn back to 1 Thessalonians 1:5. And this is what we read here. 1 Thessalonians 1:5: "For our gospel came to you not only in word." Paul says, "When I preached the gospel, the gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in plerophoria," which in my translation has "full conviction," and in the King James Version is "assurance." But of course this has nothing to do with our assurance. This has to do with Paul's conviction or assurance or fullness, whichever you think. He says, "I preached the gospel to you with power, with the Holy Spirit, with the enabling of the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction on my part." So this reference has nothing to do with your assurance, but with his assurance. So those are all the four occurrences of assurance in the New Testament as found in the King James Version.
Now what do you see? Two times only in the Old Testament, four times in the New Testament. What are we saying? You say, "Well, okay, I got the point. There are very few references to assurance in the Bible. So what is your point? Are you trying to say that there is little or no assurance in Scripture?" Not at all. Not at all. The point that I am making and trying to show you from the Word of God is first and foremost, there is no such thing as unconditional assurance. That is the main point that I want to make to you. And the second and crucial point that I want to make to you today on the basis of God's Word is that the only assurance that can be found with certainty in the New Testament is always based on perfection. Does that strike you? That's remarkable. It is always based on perfection. And I will demonstrate this to you also in a moment.
That's why you can see why this series on regeneration, renewal, and perfection are so important. Perfection, as I have demonstrated, I hope I have demonstrated through this series, is not optional in the Bible. It is vital in every respect and not least for assurance. If you have a lack of sense of security and you hope to remedy this insecurity by rushing off to accept some doctrine that speaks about unconditional assurance, you have walked like a fly straight into a spider's web. You have allowed yourself to be deceived. You have bought yourself a cheap insurance that on that day when you stand before the Lord on the day of judgment you will find that that assurance was worth nothing. You have simply been deceived by false prophets who have preached peace and security and suddenly destruction has come. Like the false prophets in Jeremiah preaching assured peace. And Yahweh said, "I never sent these people to say such a thing." They preach peace, peace when there is no peace.
Assurance in Scripture comes at a very high price. There is no cheap assurance to offer you. Neither has the Bible. Check for yourself. The only people who walk around in full assurance and to whom full assurance is given are what the Bible calls the perfect. The perfect, what are they? We have said through this whole series that we are not talking about sinlessness. We are talking about an attitude of the heart. A heart that is perfect with God. A heart like Thine. We sang that song in previous summer camp, that beautiful song, "A Heart Like Thine." That is the kind of perfection that we are talking about. A perfect heart. This is a phrase which becomes very familiar to anyone who reads the Old Testament historical books. It occurs again and again, 12, 13 times in the historical books. For example, in 1 Kings 8, verse 61, we won't read them now. There are too many such passages. 1 Kings 11:4. 1 Kings 15, verses 3 and 14, and so on and so forth. A perfect heart. The heart is perfect with Yahweh. It means the attitude is perfect.
It doesn't mean that what you do is perfect. We make the mistake when we think of perfection as perfection in what we do. It takes a long time to achieve perfection in the actual outworking of things. Work out your salvation. Because the working out of anything takes a long time to become good at it. You may play the piano and you practice and you practice and you still make mistakes. But that does not mean that your heart is wrong. Your attitude is intending to do it perfectly. Your attitude is, "But Lord, help me to play this piece perfectly." As I'm sure Helen's attitude today is. And she practiced and she practiced and she practiced, and I know that her heart is perfect. Has she ever played perfectly? Let me tell you. I have listened to these pieces, and so has Natalie and so has Evelyn, listened to these pieces a few hundred times in the last few days. And is her playing ever perfect? She has a perfect heart, because she's determined to get this thing perfect. But the outworking is another matter. It doesn't always come out perfect no matter how hard she has tried. But at least she has tried and her heart is perfect.
Now this is very important to understand this point. When I'm speaking of regeneration, renewal, and perfection, and when the Bible speaks of perfection, it means precisely this: the perfect heart totally committed to God. Totally yielded to Him. Totally obedient to Him. "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." The attitude is perfect. But in your relationships and in the outworking of it, you fail, isn't it? Suddenly you spoke a word too rash, too rash. You said, "Lord, I'm sorry I spoke too fast." You didn't mean it but you spoke it. You sinned unwittingly but you sinned. You spoke an unkind word, a rash word that hurt somebody. You didn't mean it but you sinned. But the heart is perfect and the Lord looks on your heart. That's very important to understand. That's what perfection in the Bible means. That's why I have said it does not mean the eradication of sin in the sense that everything you do, everything you say is perfect. No. But perfection in the Bible, let us get it clearly into our minds, has to do with the perfect heart towards God.
Once you understand that, you have understood the whole point of why we have been driving at perfection. "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Of course we cannot be perfect in the outward sense. We cannot be as righteous as He is righteous, as holy as He is holy, as loving as He is loving. There's no way we can be like that in this life. And maybe through all eternity we'll be trying to become like Him. But we can in the intention of our hearts: "Lord, to be like Thee." And when we say that with all genuineness, with all cleanness of heart, we are perfect in our hearts. Because with all the true intention of our hearts we want to be like Him. And our attitude is totally open to Him. There is no deceit, no falseness within us. That is perfection of the heart. Now that's what the Bible means.
So why are we offended by the doctrine of perfection which the Scripture speaks about again and again? Now Paul links perfection and assurance in this sense. For example, in Colossians chapter 4 verse 12. Colossians 4:12. And this is what we read here: "Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always remembering you earnestly in his prayers." Why does this wonderful man of God, what does he pray for? He prays for this: "that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." That you may stand — notice the connection — perfect and therefore fully assured in all the will of God. There you have the connection of perfection and assurance. Because it is the perfect of heart that have assurance.
I challenge you to find anyone who walks with perfection of heart before the Lord who doesn't have assurance. You show me one such man. He doesn't exist. Because every man who walks with a perfect heart before God, you will notice in him complete assurance. Complete assurance before the Lord. That is a certainty with no doubt whatsoever. Such a man of God, such a person of faith whose heart is right with God, will walk in full assurance before God. Because that assurance comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills such a person. When your heart is right with God you are filled with the Spirit. And then it will happen as we read in Romans chapter 8, the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. You try it and see. This is not a matter of doctrine or theory. It's a matter of practice. Get your heart right with God and you will find inexplicably a wonderful assurance in your heart. You will in no way be terrified by the judgment. Oh yes, you will have a godly fear towards God, a reverent and holy fear towards God. But you will not have the fear of judgment. You will not be trembling with a cowardly sense of fear. No, no. Assurance comes with perfection of heart.
Our time is fast running up. Let me point to one passage quickly and then we must close. And this is in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 17. 1 John 4:17. And this is what we read here: "In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." Verse 18: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love." Now if you are not perfected in love, then you will fear, and what is the fear about? The fear of judgment here. Your conscience is never clear with the Lord. Your conscience will bother you and therefore you will be fearful because your heart is not right with God. Your love is not perfected. Perfect love towards God and towards man casts out fear.
And now again remember, by perfect love does not mean that you are perfect in all the outward expressions of your love. That's not what the Bible means. It means your love is perfect in its intention. You are totally committed to love God and you are totally committed to love your brother and your sister. But you do make mistakes and you do fail, and it grieves you that you do, and that's why John says also that we should get this thing cleared away quickly. We should confess our sins and be cleared, as also James says, as we were reminded by Brother Eric last week. But here we see that if your heart is right with God and you are committed to love God and your brother, that kind of love casts out fear. You will not stand in dread of judgment. You will walk in true assurance. True assurance.
Now that is why I'm saying it's very important. It is not that there is no assurance. God forbid. God has granted us wonderful assurance in Christ. It is not assurance or no assurance. What we are talking about is true assurance versus false assurance. That is what we are speaking about. And here is the foundation of true assurance: perfection. Perfect of heart. Perfect in love. Because love is of the heart, of course.
Let me give you two instances of perfect love. Perfect love. What do we mean by perfect love? How do we know that our love is perfect? You know if your love is perfect, as I demonstrated, I hope, by the Word of God two messages ago, that Christ-like love is a love that gives without seeking anything in return. If you love a person and you look for nothing in return, then you will know what Christ-like love is. You are giving out of love alone. Not seeking thanks, not seeking reward, you just give because you love.
I like to give two illustrations because I would like to help you to know Brother Jeffrey, our camp speaker, even more. And I have said that I have learned a lot from Brother Jeffrey concerning love, especially perfect love. And though these incidents may seem quite small, they are indeed examples of perfect love, and I want to demonstrate to you that you can love in this perfect way of loving without seeking anything in return. And this is not to praise a man because the praise and glory comes only from the Lord. As Paul says, whatever I am, I am by the grace of God alone. But from this dear Brother Jeffrey, whom if the Lord permits we will have the privilege of having as our camp speaker...
In our student days, as I told you, when we were fellow students in London University, I remember how much I learned from his life. He was not an eloquent preacher, not an eloquent Bible teacher, but how his life spoke to me time and again. And once he heard that I was preaching in a place north of London called Nottingham. In fact I was preaching in a church that once had a very famous pastor there called Philip Doddridge, who has written many hymns that you will find in your hymn books. I preached in that very church where Philip Doddridge once preached, who once was the pastor of an old church up in Nottingham. And when Jeffrey heard that I was preaching there, he insisted that he would drive me there. And he had a very old car, the model of which was rather difficult to find upon the streets of England. I think it would have graced many a museum, but anyway our brother was driving this old thing, something which must have stemmed from the 40's. And that is, he drove that when he was not cycling. Most of the time he was cycling, but on this occasion he was driving this old thing. And he lovingly insisted he wanted to drive me there because it would save time. I would not have to go around to various underground stations and change trains and so on. No, he would like to have a share in the preaching of the gospel if only by driving me there and driving me back again.
But I knew he would be on night duty, not sleeping all night. And I know that most Christians would say, "No, no, no, I am too tired. Find somebody else to do this, or just go by train. I think I can't cope with this." But not Jeffrey. He said, "But you haven't slept all night, how can you do this?" He says, "That's alright, I am used to it. I want to drive you there anyway." So he drove me there. He rushed out of hospital. He had worked — I said hospital because I guess by now you know that he is a doctor — and he drove. He rushed out of hospital, right up to the last minute he had been busy, and he drove me up there. And then after I preached there, he drove me back down to London quite late at night because I preached morning and evening. And then he was by this time in such a state of exhaustion that, as I have said, I think he is the only person I have ever seen falling asleep standing up. Because as I got back to London and to the apartment, they were asking me, "Well, how did it go up there in the church?" And I was sharing with them, and as I was sharing we were standing in a circle, and I saw Jeffrey standing there and his eyes were closing and he was wavering back and forth, and I thought any minute he is going to fall.
And it spoke to my heart that this dear brother, not having slept all night, exhausted to the point where he could actually fall asleep on his feet, determined out of love, by sheer insistence of love, that he wanted to have a share in the preaching of the gospel, to drive me there and back when he could have gone to bed and got himself asleep. Is that not perfect love, I ask you? Is that not perfect love? Totally self-giving, totally forgetful of one's own needs. It really spoke to my heart as I saw the exhaustion of this brother. And when I saw him and I said, "Jeffrey, you're awfully tired, aren't you?" and he opened his eyes and he just smiled at me. And that sweet smile of devotion to the Lord spoke to me more messages than a thousand eloquent preachers could ever say to me. He was never a word of complaint, never a word of self-pity. That smile of devotion to the Lord said it all.
One last instance. I used to suffer very badly from hay fever in England. And I want those of you who have hay fever, I know how to sympathize with you. Writing my exams and the nose was dripping away, and I was trying to keep the exam paper dry and it was going away. I used to say that I don't know why they put exam periods at the worst period of the year when thousands of students suffer from hay fever, their eyes are itching, their nose are running, and they are forced to write three-hour exams at a time. I think this was the most unfair time ever devised for exams. I mean why can't they put exams in winter when nobody has hay fever? But anyway, we won't go into all this.
But anyway, dear Brother Jeffrey, seeing my condition with my eyes all red and nose running, he knew that giving me an antihistamine drug would make me very sleepy, as antihistamines tend to make people sleepy. And one day he said to me, "You know, there is a new drug that has come out which doesn't make you sleepy. On the contrary, it keeps you awake." He says, "Could I get you some of those? Could I get some of those for you?" So I said, "Well, if you think it will help me, I'd be grateful." So one day he came and he handed me this bottle, this bottle of antihistamine things. And I looked at him and he had dark circles around his eyes. So I said, "Jeffrey, it looks to me as though you haven't been sleeping all night. Have you been on night duty again?" He said, "No, no, I haven't been on night duty." So I pressed him further. I said, "Well, if you haven't been on night duty, then why is it you look as though you haven't slept all night?" He said, "Well, I haven't slept all night." I said, "What happened?" He said, "Well, what happened was that I tested this drug on myself." He said, "I wanted to make sure that what I said to you was true, or the claims of this drug is true, that it in fact doesn't make you sleepy. And so what I did is I took a double dose of the drug on myself, and indeed it works. I haven't slept all night."
I was so touched in my heart because he has no hay fever, and yet before he had the confidence to give me this new drug, he determined to test it on himself. And he tested it with a double dose. Perfect love. Perfect love. That's why I say to you this brother has taught me so much about love. Why should I do this to myself? I don't have hay fever. Why should I take even the same dose? Just to test it would have been good enough. But to make very sure that it will be alright for me, he took a double dose on himself. Perfect love. And it says here, perfect love casts out fear. That is perfect commitment. That is a perfection of heart towards the Lord.
Now you see, I don't exaggerate when I say I learned so much from this dear brother. Maybe I can talk a little better than he, but I think I am far inferior to him in the quality of his love. May the Lord speak to each one of our hearts. Let us pray.