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I know that my Redeemer liveth.— Job 19:25. 



8 EAR friends, I have thought best to 

 submit to you to-day a sermon that 

 was preached in our pulpit a few 

 weeks ago. I have decided to do this 

 because the question has come up so 

 often, " How shall I know that I am a 

 Christian V" 



CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE; SERMON BY REVEREND 

 NORMAN PLASS. 



Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; 

 prove your own selves.— II. Cor. 13: 5. 



A question that is often asked is this: "Can I 

 know ivlnllur I nut a Christian or notV Itis vari- 

 ously answered. One will tell us that he has an 

 abiding and biessed assurance that he is a child of 

 God; another will say that he is confident of it at 

 times, while again the light of his hope grows dim 

 and he is left in doubt. Still another will say that 

 he has never experienced an assurance that his 

 name is written in the Lamb's book of life. The 

 first confidently exclaims with Paul: "I know 

 whom I have believed." The second, while at times 

 appropriating these words, is at the next moment 

 ready to exclaim with Thomas, " We know not." 

 The third is like the heroine of " Mis* Toosey's Mis- 

 sion," who, although a sincere Christian, yet when 

 iu time of revival the presiding clergyman " invit- 

 ed all those who were conscious of conversion to 

 remain, and the rest to leave, without a moment's 

 hesitation went out, and found her way home, sob- 

 bing and broken-hearted." 



Were the question, "J>< I know whether 1 am a 

 Christian?" it would be thus variously answered. 

 But it is a question of possibility and privilege— 

 "(V(/i 1 know?" As thus asked, we can best an- 

 swer it by considering some of the conditions 

 we have to fulfill in order that we may be Chris- 

 tians, and by deciding whether or not we can 

 know that those conditions are fulfilled. I hold 

 that it is the privilege of every believer to know 

 whether or not he is saved— and not only the privi- 

 lege, but the diitu, for the words of our text come to 

 us in the form of a command: " Examiue your- 

 selves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your 

 own selves." 



The basis of the Christian life is a belief— not a 

 mere intellectual belief, implying simply assent to a 

 proposition or truth, but a belief that tmplit s a sur- 

 render of tin in,'. It is such a belief as the wife 

 has in her husband— a belief not merely in his in- 

 tegrity and sincerity, but a belief that leads her to 

 surrender herself, to a large extent, to liis care and 

 (Unci inn. Not only is it the privilege of the wife to 

 know whether she thus believes in her husband, it 

 is her duti/ to know before she makes the surrender. 

 In like manner it is our own privilege and our 

 duty to know whether we exercise self-surrendt ring 

 belief in Christ. Why can we not know just as well 

 as the wife whether we exercise such a belief or 

 not? This implies a surrender of the affections, 

 What would you think of a woman who should say 

 that she didn't know whether she loved her hus- 

 band or not? It's her duty to know, even before 

 she becomes his wife. Should not, then, Christians, 

 who as a body are called "the bride "of Christ, know 

 Whether they love Christ or not? 



We speak.luf " a change of b,eart," or " th.e new 



birth." What is the change of heart? Simply a 

 change of affections. A person says: "I don't real- 

 ize that I have had a change of heart, so I don't be- 

 lieve I could have had, for I should know it if 1 had, 

 wouldn't I?" That depends entirely upon what 

 you make the standard of your judgment. If you 

 have expected to feel your fleshy heart gradually 

 passing away and another heart taking its place, 

 you no doubt have failed to witness the change. If 

 you expect a great upheaval of your emotional na- 

 ture, followed by a great influx of feeling and un- 

 told joy, you will no doubt be disappointed, and 

 conclude that the change has not come. Such an 

 overflow of feeling results only upon a great 

 change iu belief and life; and with most of us, when 

 we become Christians, there is a change neither in 

 belief nor in life, but only in the point of surrendt r. 

 A young man who was troubled at this point 

 came to his pastor. After a few words the pastor 

 asked, "What do you understand the heart to be?" 



"The affections," replied the youth. 



"That is correct. Now, are you sure that your 

 affections have not changed? Did you love to pray 

 a month ago?" 



"No! I was accustomed to pray, but it was a 

 mere formal duty." 



" Is prayer a pleasure to you now?" 



"It is, decidedly." 



"Did you enjoy association with Christians then?" 



"No! not at all. I shunned them." 



" Do you shun them now?" 



"No! I like to be with them." 



" Do you love to read the Bible?" 



" Very much." 



" Did you a month ago?" 



" I can't say that I did." 



"And can't you think of several things that you 

 used to And pleasure in that you don't care lor 

 now?" 



"Oh, yes! very many." 



" Can't you see, then, that you have met with a 

 change of heart? If by the heart is meant the af- 

 fections, and your affections are changed from 

 what you once loved to what you once hated, so 

 that now you care not for the former and hate the 

 latter, you have certainly experienced a great 

 change'of heart." 



Here was a clear case. All that young man need- 

 ed was to understand himself. Whoever can an- 

 swer those questions as be did, has. certainly been 

 born again. With some of you, there may be but a 

 aini/le indication of the change that you can now 

 discern. You may enjoy the prayer meeting njw, 

 whereas you didn't before. A young man who is 

 seeking Christ, but who doesn't think he has found 

 him yet, said to me a few evenings ago, after the 

 prayer-meeting, " I never enjoyed a meeting like 

 that before." Is not that an indication that he has 

 found Christ? You may like to be with Christians 

 now, whereas you shunned them before. Take 

 these new affections as indications that you have 

 been born again. 



Hut a person says to me: "I have always Itad tin s< 

 feelings. I never thought that I hated God. 1 al- 

 ways liked to read the Bible. I always loved to as- 

 sociate with Christians, Yet I never felt that I 

 was a Christian." But if your affections are upon 

 these things, you arc <t Christian. 



"What!" you exclaim, "could I be a Christian 

 and not know it?" 



Yes, 1 think you could. You cau't bo & full-grown 



