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The Privilege of Assurance, March 11
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our
hearts before him.
1 John 3:19
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I would impress upon our young men and young women the necessity
of making their calling and election sure. I would beseech you to do no
haphazard or uncertain work where your eternal interests are involved.
By so doing you lose happiness, peace, comfort, and hope in this life, and
you lose also your immortal inheritance.
My young friends, you are judgment bound, and through the grace
of Christ you may render obedience to the commands of God, and daily
gain fortitude and strength of character, so that you need not fail or be
discouraged. Divine grace has been abundantly provided for every soul,
so that each one may engage in the conflict and come off victorious. Do
not become sluggish; do not flatter yourselves that you may be saved in
walking in accordance with the natural traits of your character—that you
may drift with the current of the world, and indulge and please self, and
yet be able to withstand the forces of evil in a time of crisis, and come off
victorious when the battle waxes hot.... You must learn every day to obey
the orders of the Captain of the Lord’s host.
My young friends, do you pray? Are you educating yourselves to
offer petitions for pure thoughts, for holy aspirations, for a pure heart and
clean hands? Are you educating your lips to sing the praises of God, and
are you seeking to do the will of God? This is the kind of education that
will be of the greatest value to you; for it will aid you in the formation of
Christlike character.
Do not settle down in Satan’s easy chair, and say that there is no use,
you cannot cease to sin, that there is no power in you to overcome. There
is no power in you apart from Christ, but it is your privilege to have Christ
abiding in your heart by faith, and He can overcome sin in you, when you
cooperate with His efforts.... You may be living epistles, known and read
of all men. You are not to be a dead letter, but a living one, testifying to
the world that Jesus is able to save.
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