Who is a true Christian?

Jesus said in John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

What does it mean to be born again?

We read that verse that is quoted so often John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We read in John.3:36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The key word in these verses is believeth. You can believe in Jesus Christ and still be lost. I am speaking from my own experience. Before I was saved I believed in Jesus. I knew He was the Son of God. I believed there was a heaven and a hell. In fact I KNEW all these things. My believe about these things was as strong before I was saved as it is today. So why wasn’t I saved?

The reason was I refused to accept it. God will not force Himself onto you at any time. You can believe, but if you refuse to accept what Jesus did on the cross for you. When Jesus died on the cross He died for ALL sin. He died for the sin of those people who refuse to accept what He did that day on Calvery. Nobody goes to hell for sin. Jesus paid for all sin. People go to hell because they refuse to receive what He did for them.

So what must we do to accept Jesus. First we have to realize that we are sinners. Rom 3:23 says For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Jesus said in Mat. 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Mark 1:15 says The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Mark 6:12 says And they went out, and preached that men should repent.

Jesus said in Luke 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus said in Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Acts 3:38 says Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

From these verses we see that without repentance on our part there is no remissions of sin. To repent means that we realize that we are wrong and we are sorry for what we did. We can’t go back and change what we did and we deserve to be out to death. We realize that is why Jesus died. He took our place. We say Jesus forgive us and come into our heart and at that point we are born again.

You mean it is that simple? It is that simple. It isn’t long till the devil comes and wants to rob you of what you have just received. he will tell you, no way that is too simple. You are not changed because you did that. You are just like you were before. He wants to create doubt in your mind. That is what he did to Eve in the garden. Did God really say you would die if you ate of that tree?

Jesus warned us that Satan would want to rob you of the things that God gives you. So HOW CAN I BE SURE I AM BORN AGAIN?

The Bible tells in Eph. 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Grace means Gods rewards at Christ expense. (I just threw that in there.) We see from this verse that we don’t deserve it, but God loves us and it is by His grace (Gods love) and we are not saved by who we are or what we do. We can’t work for our salvation or earn it. It is Gods gift to us. We receive it through faith.

Faith in what? In the WORD of GOD. God can not lie. He will do what He says. The first thing when we are saved we feel the drawing power of God. People think they can get saved when they want to get saved, but the Bible says No man comes to the Father except the Spirit first draws him.

So when we respond to the call of Jesus, how do we know if it is real?

Well for one thing you will experience a change in your life. You will have a new attitude, a new outlook on life. You will see people differently then you did before. The fact that you are born again makes you a new person.

If there is no change in your life, If you don’t see things in a different light then you did before then you might want to be sure you was sincere. This is one way of knowing that you are born again.

Thomas doubted when the disciples told him that they had seen Jesus after the resurrection and Jesus came to Thomas and said reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

John then said in John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Jesus said in John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Jesus said John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Today we KNOW if we are Born Again. We don’t have to wait till we get to heaven to see if we made it. That would be a terrible way to live. Not being sure if we were going to make it.

After we are born again we begin to experience everything in a different way then before. Now we have been given access to God and we begin to see things differently. We also begin to realize we have a spiritual enemy at work, trying to rob us of this new life. New problems arise, that cause us to doubt what has happen to us. The first time we do something wrong, the devil says to us, see, if you were really changed, you wouldn't have done that. This happens to all of us at times. What we need to do is recognize these are temptations from the devil. That is where our faith comes in. We don’t have salvation because we feel like we have it. We have it because we repented of our sins and ask Jesus to come into our heart and Jesus says because of that we are saved. It isn’t feelings. It is trusting God’s Word.

Rom 10:9-10 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

If you are confessing with your mouth (telling others about Jesus) and you believe down inside you that Jesus is alive today, then you are saved. If you are nor saved you won’t being doing these two things. The lost doesn’t do these things.

If I sinned after I accepted Jesus what happens. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Don’t worry about sinning. You know what the major sins are but people worry about what if I do this or that. Don’t live your life by dos and don’t. That will make you one unhappy Christian. All you will do is struggle. When you get out of line the Holy Spirit will speak to you. That still small voice you hear, that is God. That makes you know you are saved, If you do something wrong the Spirit will let you know. He guides us.

There will be times you will slip and maybe even sin, but God has taken care of that. 1 John 1:9 was not given to the world. It was given to Christians so if they happen to sin they do what it says.

Stand on what the WORD says, not on how you feel. When you apply the WORD to your life, you faith will grow. You will KNOW where you stand with God. You will have the assurance that you are born again and when you die, you will be with Jesus. When you have that assurance nobody can tell you different. Not even the devil.

It is no longer you that liveth, but Christ living in you.

It is not I, but Christ. It makes no difference if we live or die we are the Lords.

Phil. 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.