Now, dear reader, seek grace to honestly measure yourself by these criteria. Do such heavenly graces adorn
your soul? Are these marks of those whom the Son of God pronounces “Blessed” stamped upon your character?
Are you truly “poor in spirit”? We say “truly,” for it is easy to adopt expressions and call ourselves names—if
you are offended when someone else applies them to you, it shows you do not mean what you say. Do you
“mourn” over your lack of conformity to Christ, the feebleness of your faith; the coldness of your love? Are you
“meek”? Has your will been broken and your heart made submissive to God? Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness?—do you use the means of grace, your searchings of the Scriptures, your prayers? Are you
“merciful,” or censorious and harsh? Are you “pure in heart”?—grieved when an impure imagination assails? If
not, you have no right to regard yourself as “Blessed”; instead, you are under the curse of a holy and sin-hating
God.
It is not, Are these spiritual graces fully developed within you—they never are in this life. But are they truly
present at all? It is not, Are you completely emptied of self, but is it your sincere desire and earnest prayer to be
so? It is not do you “mourn” as deeply as you ought to over indwelling sin and its activities, but have you felt at
all “the plague” of your own heart? (1 Kings 8:38). It is not is your meekness all that can be desired, but is there
unmistakable proof that the root of it has actually been communicated to your soul? There is a growth: “first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” But that which has no existence can have no growth. Has the
“seed” (1 Peter 1:23) of grace been planted in your heart? That is the point which each of us is called upon to
determine—not to assume, or take for granted, but to make “sure” (2 Peter 1:10). And this is done when we
faithfully examine our hearts to discover whether or not there is in them those spiritual graces to which the
promises of God are addressed.
While Gospel assurance is the opposite of carnal presumption and of unbelieving doubt, yet it is far from
being opposed to thorough self-examination. But, alas, so many have been taught, and by men highly reputed for
their orthodoxy, that if it is not actually wrong, it is highly injurious to a Christian to look within. There is a
balance of truth to be observed here, as everywhere. That one might become too introspective is readily granted,
but that a Christian is never to search his own heart, test his faith, scrutinize his motives, and make sure that he
has the “root of the matter” within him (Job 19:28), is contradicted by many plain Scriptures. Regeneration is a
work which God performs within us (Phil. 1:6), and as eternal destiny hinges on the same, it behooves every
serious soul to take the utmost pains and ascertain whether or not this miracle of grace has been wrought within
him. When Paul stood in doubt of the state of the Galatians, he said, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you” (4:19). So, too, to the Colossians he wrote, “Christ in you the hope of glory”
(1:27).
“For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in (or
“by”) God” (John 3:20, 21). Here is one of the vital differences between the unregenerate and the regenerate, the
unbelieving and the believing. Unbelief is far more than an error of judgment, or speculative mistake into which
an honest mind may fall; it proceeds from heart-enmity against God. The natural man, while left to himself, hates
the searching light of God (v. 19), fearful lest it should disquiet the conscience, expose the fallacy of his
presumptuous confidence, and shatter his false peace. But it is the very reverse with him who has been given “an
honest and good heart.” He who acts sincerely and conscientiously, desiring to know and do the whole will of
God without reserve, welcomes the light.
The genuine Christian believes what Scripture says concerning the natural heart, namely, that it is “deceitful
above all things” (Jer. 17:9), and the surest proof that he does believe this solemn fact is that he is deeply
concerned lest “a deceitful heart has turned him aside” (Isa. 44:20), and caused him to believe that all is well with
his soul, when in reality he is yet “in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.” He believes what God’s
Word says about Satan, the great deluder, and trembles lest, after all, the Devil has beguiled him with a false
peace. Such a possibility, such a likelihood occasions him much exercise of soul. Like David of old (and every
other genuine saint), he “communes with his own heart” (Psa. 4:4), and “his spirit makes diligent search” (Psa.
77:6). He turns to the light of Holy Writ, anxious to have his character and conduct scrutinized by the same,
desiring to have his deeds made manifest as to whether they proceed from self-love or real love to God.
It is not that we are here seeking to foster any confidence in self, rather do we desire to promote real
confidence toward God. It is one thing to make sure that I love God, and it is quite another for me to find
satisfaction in that love. The self-examination which the Scriptures enjoin (in 1 Cor. 11:28, for example), is not
for the purpose of finding something within to make me more acceptable to God, nor as a ground of my
justification before Him; but is with the object of discovering whether Christ is being formed within me. There
are two extremes to be guarded against: such an undue occupation with the work of the spirit within, that the
heart is taken right off from the work of Christ for His people; and, such a one-sided emphasis upon the imputed
righteousness of Christ, that the righteousness imparted by the Spirit is ignored or disparaged. It is impossible
that the Third Person of the Trinity should take up His abode within a soul, without effecting a radical change
within him: and it is this which I need to make sure of. It is the Spirit’s work within the heart which is the only
infallible proof of salvation.
your soul? Are these marks of those whom the Son of God pronounces “Blessed” stamped upon your character?
Are you truly “poor in spirit”? We say “truly,” for it is easy to adopt expressions and call ourselves names—if
you are offended when someone else applies them to you, it shows you do not mean what you say. Do you
“mourn” over your lack of conformity to Christ, the feebleness of your faith; the coldness of your love? Are you
“meek”? Has your will been broken and your heart made submissive to God? Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness?—do you use the means of grace, your searchings of the Scriptures, your prayers? Are you
“merciful,” or censorious and harsh? Are you “pure in heart”?—grieved when an impure imagination assails? If
not, you have no right to regard yourself as “Blessed”; instead, you are under the curse of a holy and sin-hating
God.
It is not, Are these spiritual graces fully developed within you—they never are in this life. But are they truly
present at all? It is not, Are you completely emptied of self, but is it your sincere desire and earnest prayer to be
so? It is not do you “mourn” as deeply as you ought to over indwelling sin and its activities, but have you felt at
all “the plague” of your own heart? (1 Kings 8:38). It is not is your meekness all that can be desired, but is there
unmistakable proof that the root of it has actually been communicated to your soul? There is a growth: “first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” But that which has no existence can have no growth. Has the
“seed” (1 Peter 1:23) of grace been planted in your heart? That is the point which each of us is called upon to
determine—not to assume, or take for granted, but to make “sure” (2 Peter 1:10). And this is done when we
faithfully examine our hearts to discover whether or not there is in them those spiritual graces to which the
promises of God are addressed.
While Gospel assurance is the opposite of carnal presumption and of unbelieving doubt, yet it is far from
being opposed to thorough self-examination. But, alas, so many have been taught, and by men highly reputed for
their orthodoxy, that if it is not actually wrong, it is highly injurious to a Christian to look within. There is a
balance of truth to be observed here, as everywhere. That one might become too introspective is readily granted,
but that a Christian is never to search his own heart, test his faith, scrutinize his motives, and make sure that he
has the “root of the matter” within him (Job 19:28), is contradicted by many plain Scriptures. Regeneration is a
work which God performs within us (Phil. 1:6), and as eternal destiny hinges on the same, it behooves every
serious soul to take the utmost pains and ascertain whether or not this miracle of grace has been wrought within
him. When Paul stood in doubt of the state of the Galatians, he said, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you” (4:19). So, too, to the Colossians he wrote, “Christ in you the hope of glory”
(1:27).
“For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in (or
“by”) God” (John 3:20, 21). Here is one of the vital differences between the unregenerate and the regenerate, the
unbelieving and the believing. Unbelief is far more than an error of judgment, or speculative mistake into which
an honest mind may fall; it proceeds from heart-enmity against God. The natural man, while left to himself, hates
the searching light of God (v. 19), fearful lest it should disquiet the conscience, expose the fallacy of his
presumptuous confidence, and shatter his false peace. But it is the very reverse with him who has been given “an
honest and good heart.” He who acts sincerely and conscientiously, desiring to know and do the whole will of
God without reserve, welcomes the light.
The genuine Christian believes what Scripture says concerning the natural heart, namely, that it is “deceitful
above all things” (Jer. 17:9), and the surest proof that he does believe this solemn fact is that he is deeply
concerned lest “a deceitful heart has turned him aside” (Isa. 44:20), and caused him to believe that all is well with
his soul, when in reality he is yet “in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.” He believes what God’s
Word says about Satan, the great deluder, and trembles lest, after all, the Devil has beguiled him with a false
peace. Such a possibility, such a likelihood occasions him much exercise of soul. Like David of old (and every
other genuine saint), he “communes with his own heart” (Psa. 4:4), and “his spirit makes diligent search” (Psa.
77:6). He turns to the light of Holy Writ, anxious to have his character and conduct scrutinized by the same,
desiring to have his deeds made manifest as to whether they proceed from self-love or real love to God.
It is not that we are here seeking to foster any confidence in self, rather do we desire to promote real
confidence toward God. It is one thing to make sure that I love God, and it is quite another for me to find
satisfaction in that love. The self-examination which the Scriptures enjoin (in 1 Cor. 11:28, for example), is not
for the purpose of finding something within to make me more acceptable to God, nor as a ground of my
justification before Him; but is with the object of discovering whether Christ is being formed within me. There
are two extremes to be guarded against: such an undue occupation with the work of the spirit within, that the
heart is taken right off from the work of Christ for His people; and, such a one-sided emphasis upon the imputed
righteousness of Christ, that the righteousness imparted by the Spirit is ignored or disparaged. It is impossible
that the Third Person of the Trinity should take up His abode within a soul, without effecting a radical change
within him: and it is this which I need to make sure of. It is the Spirit’s work within the heart which is the only
infallible proof of salvation.
