Making Salvation Sure.
I. In order to make sure one's own salvation, our first counsel is, Be sure of the great foundation truths. You believe that there is a God, and that He is the Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him; you believe that He is infinitely wise and good, true and holy; and you believe that you are a sinner, that you entirely lack that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, and that if you are ever admitted to the abodes of purity, it must be on some other grounds than your own fitness or deserving. The best evidence that you know these things and are persuaded of them is that you are acting on them. As the best evidence that yours is the Christian faith, be sure that yours is the Christian character. If your faith is genuine, then, like good material, it will stand a heavy superstructure. There may be added to it temperance, patience, godliness, and every grace.
II. What is salvation? It is health of soul. It is God's friendship. It is a happy immortality. And how is this salvation to become personally sure? The first thing is to apprehend clearly what God has revealed regarding it, and then do as God directs: believe on Jesus. Rest on His atonement as the basis, at once righteous and gracious, of your reconciliation to a sin-avenging Jehovah; believe on Jesus as the gift of the Father's love and the exponent of the Father's character; hear Him in all His sayings, however plain or paradoxical; and follow Him as fast and as far in His beautiful career as weak and faltering footsteps can: and thus, with no barren nor unfruitful knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but with His own characteristics in you and abounding, your calling and election will be a subject of little anxiety to yourself and no anxiety to others, for thus an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
J. Hamilton, Works,vol. vi., p. 326.
References: 2 Peter 1:10. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 159; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 370; G. G. Bradley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 177. 2 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 1:11. V. Pryce, Ibid.,vol. xxxii., p. 392; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iii., No. 123; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 291. 2 Peter 1:12. Preacher's Monthly,vol. x., p. 179. 2 Peter 1:13. H. Jones, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xx., p. 321; Bishop Ryle, Ibid.,vol. xxv., p. 337. 2 Peter 1:16. W. M. Taylor, The Gospel Miracles,pp. 101, 139; J. H. Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 365; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 372; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 476.