What is assurance? The word translated ‘full assurance’ means certainty, full persuasion; that is the Christian privilege and blessing. Certainty yes, but isn't it a feeling? Do I not just have a feeling that I am the Lord's, that he is mine, that my soul is saved? Do I not sense or feel spiritual and divine things? Well in a measure, yes, but the feeling aspect of assurance may come and go. I may feel assured and happy in the feeling system at times, and not so much at other times, and sometimes hardly at all. Circumstances may suppress the feeling, grief or difficulty may come. What is so much more important than the feeling (the feeling is a privilege) is the conviction: the fact that one is persuaded through and through in one's mind. How does that come about and what is this conviction composed of? This settled conviction and certainty that the things of God are true and that our souls are saved, that we belong to him, that he is ours: that is for everyone. Diligence comes in because this conviction that I have deep in my mind must be maintained by diligent action. It can diminish like the feelings, and it can be eroded away. It can leave my mind, my head, so that I flounder.
What keeps and seals that conviction in my mind? We must remain close to God. We must worship and thank him, and praise him daily and remind ourselves of his great goodness and our blessings, as recipients of his goodness. We thank him in detail; that keeps our assurance, our conviction, alive. We must reflect also, on his goodness to us. We must advance in sanctification by examining our hearts, praying, and striving for greater godliness, rectifying our behaviour. We must do all these things and they will seal our assurance. But there is one particular thing singled out in this passage: we must keep our minds on that great future objective, on the end of the journey or the coming of Christ, whichever comes first. It is called here the full assurance of hope, and hope in the Bible means anticipation. In anticipation we should be always praising God for our heavenly hope, always looking forward to eternity, always doing the things that we do in the light of that great and coming day, and the glory of Christ. You ought to be able to anticipate a safe ending, as long as you are a striver, as long as you are touched by your sin and you repent of it, or if you stray you, you come back as soon as you are disciplined – by the Lord, that is. This keeps assurance alive more than anything else. If you seldom think about the purpose and the end of your journey and about heaven and about this great blessing, do not be surprised if certainty fades and you fall prey to doubts and fears, and problems and difficulties in life begin to overwhelm you.
What should be the prevailing tone of the preacher? The writer says, ‘We desire that every one of you …’ In what spirit do we teach? Do we shout at people, command people? Are our exhortations given authoritatively from a dizzy height? Sometimes it’s the style of the street preacher. It’s hard for the street preacher. He's got to make a lot of noise without much assistance, so he is bound to shout a little, but he goes over the top if his shouting takes on a domineering tone. Puritan Richard Baxter called this the gentleness of preaching. There are times to be firm, and there are times to be urging, to let the goodwill and the desire show through. ‘We long for you to have the fruits of progress. We are going to try and show how these are achievable. We desire; we urge you.