Confirmation 1

Introduction:  Let us begin our meditation on this Psalter portion in 1 John 5: 13-14:  “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

“That you may know” is the purpose of the Apostle John.  Our confession also speaks of this certainty, which “is not based on the fallible hope of guesswork or probabilities.  Rather, it is the infallible assurance of faith, established on the divine truth of the promises of salvation.”  Certainly, we have seen our psalmist wrestling with the assurance of his faith throughout this psalm, just as we regularly wrestle with ours.  Again, our Confession helps us to understand that “this infallible assurance is not so essential to faith that a true believer may not have doubts and conflicts.”  But since the Spirit enables believers to know the things, which are freely given to them by God, every believer may come to a full assurance of salvation by the ordinary working of the Spirit without unusual revelation.

Our purpose this morning is that we may have confirmed in our mind the reality of the Spirit of God working in and through us.  And this confirmation is the theme of this portion of David’s greatest work.  Here we read and sense the psalmist working to confirm his faith and to comfort himself in the certainty of his regeneration.

Years ago before I went horse shopping, my grandfather showed me some vital information about telling a horse’s age.  Of course everyone has probably heard that unless the horse in question is a gift, you should look in its mouth.  Especially at its teeth!  However, he said that what was seen in the mouth should be confirmed by other evidence.  An easy way to confirm that evidence was to stroke the animal along its neck.  There on the bones of the neck would grow bony projections under the skin, which would indicate the passage of three years.  He said that as you moved your hands along the neck you could count 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and so on!  It wouldn’t be enough by itself, he cautioned, but in conjunction with the teeth and other signs, he thought a good horse trader could calculate the age of any animal within six months or so.  Well, I never got that good, but I did end up with a beautiful pain mare, which I kept and rode through High School.

In that sense of confirming what is needful to know in purchasing a good horse, let us look at these verses to confirm the essence of our spiritual calling.  Well does our confession tell us “it is every believer’s duty to establish the certainty of his calling and election so that his heart may be filled with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, with love and thankfulness to God, and with strength and cheerfulness of obedience.  These are the true products of assurance, which is never conducive to an undisciplined life.”

Development: The first mark that encourages our psalmist is the exclamation of verse fifty-seven.  The first phrase there is not a proper sentence in the Hebrew.  It is the surprise of joy at the knowledge of grace.

“You are  my portion O Lord

I promise to keep Your words.

It was in this sense that C.S. Lewis entitled the book on his conversion:  Surprised By Joy.  If you have known the joy of grace, if you have understood that God has called you out of the common crowd for salvation, then like the psalmist here you too may say through the empowering of the Holy Spirit “You are my portion O Lord.”  This is the sometimes-profound conception that sneaks up on the baby Christian and then you suddenly realize:  He is yours, and you are His – from this time forth through all eternity.

A second mark of belonging to Christ is found in the second phrase of verse fifty-seven:  “I promise to keep Your words.”  This becomes every mature believers resolve – to bring forth the fruits of faith in obedience to the words of our precious God.  Now we all realize that we sometimes promise to do things that we are unable to accomplish.  All of those years I spent in public ignorance prove that it is difficult for people to simply resolve to turn over a new leaf.  A student once promised me that by the end of the nine weeks I would have to give her an “A” grade.  I told her I knew someone from Missouri who could notarize her promise if she wanted.  It was good that we didn’t have that former resident of the “Show Me!” state notarize her hope, because she barely passed, but at least that was a small improvement in moving up the alphabet of grades.  But always remember that those who earn a “D-“ in salvation will do exceptionally well in this regard of being obedience through the grace of our Lord.

The psalmist realizes this and in the first phrase of verse fifty-eight he earnestly notes that he will seek the face of God with all his heart.

“I entreat Your favor with all my heart;

Be gracious to me according to Your promise”.

Here we should note that this whole psalm sets forth the spiritual life of the believer.  Again and again the psalmist returns before the face of the Almighty seeking comfort and assurance in the midst of life’s ongoing struggles.  This experience is the third mark of confirmation – by the knowledge and experience that we earnestly seek the grace of assurance anew after failing in good intentions and promises.  As Martin Luther wrote in his great hymn “did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be loosing!”  We cannot keep up our end of the Covenant of Grace, that covenant must be sovereignly administered and our assurance is secure in that fact that Jesus Christ keeps us keeping the faith. 

Like our psalmist, we understand the proper relationship with our God, we realize as an older translation emphasizes it: “Be merciful unto me.”  But, isn’t this what grace is all about – “Be gracious to me according to Your promise”?  The mark of confirmation here is the word of “grace” and the covenant of God whenever we approach him on bended knee in need of renewed mercy.

The fourth mark of confirmation is found in verse fifty-nine.  There we see the psalmist examine the condition that he is in:

When I think of Your ways,

I turn my feet to Your testimonies.

This is why we regularly teach examination of our faith in conjunction with the celebration of our Lord’s Supper, so that you might be confirmed in your faith and that you may know the Spirit of God is within you.  Not only does this examination encourage us in our relationship, it also shows us that we have more work to do.  Look at the second phrase of verse fifty-nine:  “I turn my feet to Your testimonies”.

I have only been Stated Clerk of our Presbytery now, for only three and a half months, what I have learned in that time, plus my experiences over the last fourteen years in our denomination has been confirmed in a recent observation:  it is a miracle that our Presbytery grows in grace, knowledge and numbers – given all of the attitudes and activities that have gone on over the course of many years!  If this were not the Lord’s work, it could not thrive and prosper!  We can say that for any church in any place in any time; just consider the background purpose for many of Paul’s letters to the churches in the first generation after Christ!  More and more we must all learn to be more submissive to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:  Our charge today, as every day is summarized in verse sixty:

“I hasten and do not delay

To keep Your commandments.”

Over the years, very few of my former students would take their old tests and look up the correct answers in preparation for the final exam at the end of the Semester.  We must not be like them, even as we look forward to the final judgment, let us realize that we have many, many quizzes and tests along life’s way.  These testings, as Job realized are for the good of our saving knowledge.  We are ever and always encouraged to consider who we are and what we are in the grand scheme of things.  And when we realize our former hopeless estate – we are to count it all grace that the Lord has called us into His kingdom and that while we are saved by grace, He expects us to live in obedience to Him.  May the Lord give us grace to know the assurance that can be ours, and may He also give us the grace to do better the work of His church so that His kingdom may increase in spite of all our failings.  Amen.