If you have not read the introduction in Part One of the series, you can do so here.
One thing I know: Assurance
He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:25 NKJV)
The second instance of our expression “one thing” occurs in the story of the man born blind who received his sight. Although it was clear that the Lord Jesus had miraculously healed him, the Pharisees didn’t want to believe the truth. Their repeated questioning expressed the unbelief in their hearts. After two interviews with the man himself, sandwiched around a third with his parents, they end up excommunicating him from the synagogue! They denied the supernatural power of the Lord, discredited the testimony of the blind man, exchanged the truth of God for a lie and interpreted the evidence according to a worldview founded upon false assumptions. Sound familiar? That’s because there is nothing new under the sun, and we see the same blind reasoning by evolutionists and those who deny God’s existence in our day.
Notice that the blind man said, “One thing I know” — not one thing I “think” or “feel”. There was no doubt about it. The change in his life was obvious! Feelings come and go; they are unreliable; they go up and down; we have good days and bad days. But the word of God lives and abides forever. It is sure and reliable and unchanging!
At this early stage in his journey of faith, the blind man didn’t have answers to all the questions of the Pharisees. But he didn’t get into a debate or argument with them. His testimony spoke for itself! There was only one thing he knew at that moment, that though he had been blind since birth, the Lord Jesus had given him the miracle of sight. In what would become one of the world’s best known hymns, John Newton wrote, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Jesus is the way for the lost, the truth for the blind, and the life for the dead!
Notice that the blind man said, “One thing I know” — not one thing I “think” or “feel”. There was no doubt about it. The change in his life was obvious! Feelings come and go; they are unreliable; they go up and down; we have good days and bad days. But the word of God lives and abides forever. It is sure and reliable and unchanging! As believers, we can rest in the assurance of God’s word, both for salvation1 and His present care in our lives. We don’t have to be rattled by the “scientific” and intellectual arguments (or maybe even mockery) of our classmates, professors or colleagues. We can have confidence that the Bible — the word of truth — has all the answers, even if we don’t. Like the blind man, we can be sure who we have put our trust in, and what He has done for us: “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12 NKJV).
This post comes from The Lord is Near, a publication of Believer’s Bookshelf, Canada. Read additional Lord is Near online articles, listen via podcasts, or order a printed copy at Believer’s Bookshelf Canada.
Footnotes:
1. Many Christians live in the fear that they can lose their salvation, but they tend to mix up relationship with fellowship (or union with communion). New birth brings us into a relationship with God as His children that can never change, but if we have unconfessed sin in our lives we cannot have fellowship with the Lord. The word of God says that if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 Jn. 2:1). Despite our sin, He is still our Father — sin does not change our relationship. A true believer can’t be “unborn” spiritually any more than physically.