(Resting in What Christ Has Accomplished, Receiving What We Cannot Earn)
We often seek assurance by examining ourselves. We want our understanding to be settled, our motives sufficiently pure, or our feelings strong enough to justify drawing near to God. Chambers and Spurgeon turn our attention toward the provision already made in Christ and the grace through which we receive it.
Where the Witness Directs Our Attention
Chambers writes:
“The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason.” (My Utmost for His Highest)
There are times when we approach God as though peace must wait until every question has been answered. We construct an explanation, examine our experience, and look for something within ourselves that will make faith feel secure.
Yet our reasoning cannot establish what Christ alone has accomplished.
Chambers’s words direct us toward redemption as the ground of assurance. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would glorify Him, receiving what is His and making it known to His disciples (John 16:13–15). The witness draws attention to the Son and the sufficiency of what the Father has given through Him.
This does not make understanding unimportant. Scripture renews our understanding and invites careful discernment. But an explanation, however sound, cannot reconcile us to God. Our confidence rests upon the One whom that understanding helps us know.
Nor should Chambers’s phrase “nothing else” obscure the breadth of the biblical witness. Romans 8:16 speaks of the witness that we are God’s children. That assurance belongs within the redemption accomplished through Christ: through Him, we receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4–5).
We are brought to trust a provision that precedes our ability to explain it fully.
The Love We Cannot Make Ourselves Fit to Receive
Spurgeon writes:
“It is blessed to know that the grace of God is free to us at all times, without preparation, without fitness, without money, without price! ‘I will love them freely.’” (Morning and Evening)
How readily we place conditions upon our return to God.
We think we should first become more sincere, overcome a familiar weakness, or recover the warmth we once felt in prayer. We may acknowledge grace with our words while waiting to become worthy of receiving it.
The promise Spurgeon recalls comes from God’s answer to a backsliding people. In Hosea 14, they are called to return, confess their iniquity, and relinquish their false dependencies. God answers with healing and freely given love (Hosea 14:1–4).
Their return does not purchase His love. Even their confession brings no resources with which to pay Him.
Free grace gives us reason to come honestly. We can acknowledge sin without disguising it, because forgiveness rests upon God’s mercy rather than our ability to present an improved version of ourselves.
That mercy also reaches the desire to make ourselves sufficient. We come with empty hands, receiving through the Son what the Father has freely provided.
Drawing Near on the Ground Already Given
The witness to redemption and the promise of free love meet where our attempts to establish our own acceptance come to an end.
We need not wait for flawless understanding before trusting Christ. Neither must we manufacture spiritual fitness before returning to the Father. Through the offering of Jesus, the way has been opened, and Hebrews invites us to draw near in the assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19–22).
The Holy Spirit operates upon the human spirit, directing us toward the Son and forming a responsive trust in the Father. From that communion, confession, gratitude, and obedience find expression. They grow from grace received.
This morning, an unanswered question may remain. A failure may need to be confessed. Our feelings may be quieter than we wish.
We can bring all of this before the Father through Christ. His redemption remains sufficient, and His love is freely given. We draw near because He has opened the way.