Conversion to Jesus Christ (2)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well, to begin this morning, let's consider one verse from 2

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Corinthians 13, which is verse 5. The Apostle Paul was concerned about this church at Corinth, it would be set with many problems.

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He addressed many of them in 1 Corinthians and then he addressed more of them in 2 Corinthians, problem after problem.

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I mean, these people in this church had all sorts of difficulties and it finally got to the point, we read in verse 5 of 2

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Corinthians 13, he wrote these Christians, professing Christians, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

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Test yourselves or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test.

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Last Lord's Day we began a new series on this matter of conversion, what the

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Bible teaches about conversion to Jesus Christ, true conversion. In other words, what does

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God tell us in his word about becoming and being a true Christian? What can be more important than this topic?

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It might seem to be a rather simple one, straightforward one that everybody knows about, but actually this is not the case.

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I feel there's a whole lot of error regarding this matter. Well the first issue we addressed last week or began to address was the common problem of wrong understanding about the subject of conversion itself.

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The fact is there are many who wrongly believe they have been converted to Jesus Christ when in actuality they have not, they've never experienced a saving work of God's grace in their lives.

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And it's hard to imagine the sense of surprise, horror and regret that many, Jesus said many, will experience on the day of judgment when they discover that they had been deluded with respect to their salvation.

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These are Christians, and I put Christians in quotation marks, these are people who thought they were followers of Jesus Christ, Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, they thought that they were okay, that they had salvation, but they're wrong.

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They thought that they were prepared, they would be preserved through God's judgment, and here on the day of judgment

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Jesus says that he's going to declare to them, I never knew you.

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And so we read that passage in Matthew 7 about the need to give diligence regarding this and to beware of false prophets because there are those that will lead you astray, lead you into error respecting this matter.

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They present Christianity as an easy thing, in fact you don't have to do anything, all you have to do is believe.

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That sounds in some ways like quite a biblical statement, doesn't it? Just believe, that's all you have to do.

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And the Lord Jesus said no, you need to enter a narrow gate and follow a hard path, it's a hard way that leads to life, and there are few that find it.

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Now the easy way is the way of the lost, they go to destruction and there will be many that follow that course, but it's a sad thing that many will not discover this with regard to themselves until the day of judgment.

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And so we began to consider this problem last Lord's Day of wrong understanding about true conversion to Jesus Christ.

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Well, it should lead us for the need of self -examination, watchfulness, and obedience as we profess to be

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Christian. Again our Lord Jesus warned his hearers they should take great heed to themselves lest they come short of the salvation that God gave through him.

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And so the passage we read in Matthew 7, the Lord Jesus declared many would come before him on the day of judgment, having presumed that they knew him, but he would declare it to them that he never knew them.

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Oftentimes in these days with the kind of Armenian gospel that's being proclaimed, the emphasis is always do you know

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Jesus, would you like to come to know Jesus, having a personal relationship with Jesus. And that's okay as far as it goes, but what's most important is not that you claim to know

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Jesus, but you can be confident that Jesus knows you because that's the determining fact and matter on the day of judgment.

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Jesus says to these, I never knew you, although they claim to have known him, serious business.

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And so when these people come before the Lord on that day it's apparent they were not wholly ignorant with regard to the

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Lord and his ways, they seem to have a fair amount of understanding if we can imagine these ones our

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Lord described. Apparently they knew before the day of judgment a number of spiritual truths, they knew that judgment was coming and they knew they would have to give an account of themselves on that day.

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A lot of people don't think that's going to ever take place, why it's argued that Christians are just going to be raptured up and the only judgment they'll ever face is a judgment of the good things they've done as Christians to determine how many rewards they get.

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And so a vast number of evangelicals, they don't even believe that they're going to have to stand before the

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Lord Jesus and give an account of their lives with respect to salvation, but that's clearly what the

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Lord Jesus declared. It's those who hear his words and do them, that's what a true believer is, one who believes

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Jesus is Lord and lives it out in his or her life, orders his or her life according to the teachings of the

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Lord Jesus. If you simply hear you can memorize the Sermon on the Mount, you can claim to believe every word in it, but if you don't do it you're still as a foolish man who built his house on sand.

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It's only the ones who hear the words, that is comprehend them, understand them, and do them, that is apply them, only that person will escape damnation on that day.

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And yet they, apparently these ones who will be pronounced as damned on that day, they knew of the

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Lord Jesus, in fact they believed they had lived for the Lord Jesus, they seemed to think that they had given evidence that they knew him, they claimed to have proclaimed and represented the

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Lord Jesus to others, there will be preachers in this group that will be damned on that day, they thought that they were among his people, they claimed to be, have been used of God in his work of proclamation, even under the performance of miracles and casting out demons in his name.

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Mary and I took Darren and Christina, the boys, back to the airport earlier this week and coming back from Logan Airport I got a call from a friend, she's a friend, actually married to a good friend of mine, and they're having issues, and she professes to be a

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Christian, he's a reformed guy, she is of the really wild health and wealth crowd, she's actually

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Russian or raised in the Ukraine, and she began to talk for 40 minutes, she talked continuously,

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I interrupted once or twice, now what is it that you want me to do, you asked for my help, and for 40 minutes she talked about how she follows and promotes good

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Pentecostal teaching to herself and her children and she talked about all the promises, they've got a child who has cerebral palsy and she's convinced if he had enough faith and she had enough faith

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God would heal him, and she went on and on and on and talked about what a wretched man her husband was and all of this, and there wasn't a word, there wasn't any suggestion in my mind of any sensitivity to gospel truth, and yet this woman will tell you all day long of her standing with Christ and all of her friends and her preachers that she follows after and she's deluded, and yet she's completely blind to her condition,

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I hope to get out there at maybe the end of August for a week or two and set aside a day to sit down with them and work it through, this is common people in professing

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Christendom, and yet they're completely oblivious to their condition, and yet it'll be proclaimed one day,

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Jesus said I never knew you'd depart from me you who practice lawlessness, sometimes it's translated as iniquity, but Jesus was basically saying you who live contrary to the law of God, you're damned, because a true

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Christian, a true disciple of Jesus Christ lives according to the law of God that's set forth in the word of God, empowered by the spirit of God as directed by Jesus Christ the

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Lord, and that's what a Christian is, and conversion takes a sinner into that state where he or she is a disciple of Jesus and lives accordingly, and so our

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Lord warned his hearers, his disciples, those gathered to him listening to him on that mountain, the

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Apostle Paul also of course warned professing Christians, we read about it in 2nd Corinthians 13 .5,

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examine yourselves, this is a duty that all of us as Christians have, or professing

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Christians, examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith, to determine whether or not you're truly a

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Christian, it's all important, test yourselves, there are tests by which we can, there's a test in scripture by which we can examine ourselves, you know we're not left clueless about this matter, you know it's not just a hope so, we can make sound determinations if we apply the test of scripture,

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Christians are to be a self -examining people, and so there's great danger in presuming you're a

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Christian, but in reality you may not be, and so there's the need for testing, many are deceived, and then the

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Apostle Peter taught similarly, therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your call on election sure, in other words make certain that you are numbered among the elect, and there are means by which you can do that, make sure that God has called you to salvation through Jesus Christ, professing

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Christians are to do so, and so these professing Christians Peter said were to determine whether or not they were numbered among God's chosen people, that's what he said, be more diligent to make your call on election certain to you, you need to validate this according to biblical tests.

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Well last week we sought to consider reasons why this subject of true conversion is so important, and I was unable really to present clearly that last reason we've listed, and so here it is again, perhaps some of you read it, but I want to go over it, the importance of our study regarding conversion to Jesus Christ is magnified because of the many warnings, and we read some of those here, many warnings we have in scripture of many who will think they're converted when

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Jesus Christ returns, only then to discover they're still in their sins. So the holy scriptures press upon all who claim to be converted to be watchful and prepared for the second coming, to examine ourselves with regard to this matter.

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For when the Lord Jesus returns a second time he'll find his professing church comprised of professing believers, some who are true

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Christians, apparently the few, and many who are not. All profess to have faith in him, all claim to be his disciples, all anticipating the return of the

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Lord or these ones, all assuming they'll receive their full and final salvation when he comes, but not all are true

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Christians who profess to be Christian. Serious business. So our

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Lord addressed this matter repeatedly throughout his earthly ministry, told parables about the need for watchfulness.

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He gave the parable of the wedding procession, a practice that was common within the context of first century

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Jewish life, where you'd have a groom and bride, they would be betrothed to one another, they didn't know when the wedding was to take place, the wedding feast, it was determined by the father of the groom who would, you know, make the preparations and then really surprise the groom by saying, today's the day, go get your bride.

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And so the wedding procession, the virgins that were involved in the procession through the city streets at night were to be ready to go, they didn't know when it would be, they knew it was going to happen, and Jesus likened this to the

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Christian faith. And so here you have ten virgins, five wise, five foolish, they were all ready to join the wedding party, or at least they knew the wedding party was going to happen, and our

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Lord gave a 50 % ratio of professing Christians who'd have salvation and 50 % who thought they had salvation but who did not.

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I don't think our Lord was intending to give a precise ratio, half of professing

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Christians in churches are not really converted, I don't think that's the case, but can you imagine that this might be approximate, an approximate percentage?

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Yesterday in men's group we were talking about MacArthur's very good book, John MacArthur's book, The Gospel According to Jesus, it was given, written originally 25 years ago, and when that was published it basically divided evangelicalism 50 -50 across the land, 50 % said he was a heretic, other 50 % said it was true to scripture.

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Well, that 50 % that rejected his teaching were the ones that were advocating a

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Christianity like we've been describing that is not true to the gospel, they're heretical in their understanding of the gospel and salvation, and there's a 50 % figure there, but I don't think the

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Lord was saying that, but suppose that that was an approximate percentage, can you imagine if the

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Lord returned today and only professing, 50 % of professing Christians were found to be ready at his return and 50 % were not, half of us who profess to be

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Christian would enter into the joy of the Lord, but half of us would be denied entrance, the pronouncement of the

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Lord would be depart from me, I never knew you, Spurgeon wrote of this, let us feign hope that we're not to gather from our

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Lord's words that one half of the professing church is composed of those whom he calls foolish, yet our

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Lord would not have spoken of so great a proportion if there were not really a large admixture of foolish professors with the wise professors of the grace of God, and professor there is one who professes faith in Jesus Christ.

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And in another sermon Spurgeon referenced this parable of the ten virgins and he commented, was commenting on the text of Luke 13, 24, many

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I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able, and that was referring to the second coming of Christ and many attempting at the last moment to be included among the

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Lord's people but it would be too late, and Spurgeon wrote these words, so the text teaches us, it does not say a few may be misled but many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able, that many professors are deceived is clear enough in the language of Christ himself both here and other places, for instance, and shall the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins which took their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom, five of them were wise, five were foolish.

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We hope that in our churches we've not such a division as this, for it were fearful to contemplate only one half as sincere and the other half graceless, having the lamp of profession without the secret vessel of spiritual life, yet so alarming a proportion is five out of ten should make us search ourselves very carefully lest we be found among the virgins, and among the virgins having lamps,

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I, and among those lamps are burning, yet should be cast away as having no oil in our vessels with our lamps.

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The number of truly saved people in any given congregation is a common concern of pastors, at least pastors with a little lick of sense.

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We ask our Lord how many in our body truly know you, how many are wise as these five, and how many are foolish as the other five.

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That's a job, that's a responsibility of elders in a church, a pastor.

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J .C. Ryle, who no doubt had a big task ahead of him because he was in the Church of England where you have everybody in the country basically in the church baptize his infants, that he expressed, and he was a good man,

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J .C. Ryle. By the way, our speaker this coming fall is Ian Murray, a wonderful speaker, and one of the sessions he's going to give at the

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Bolton Conference is a biography of J .C. Ryle and his impact on doing evangelistic work.

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At any rate, J .C. Ryle also voiced his parable of the ten virgins, the professing church is compared to ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

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All of them had lamps, but only five had oil in their vessels to feed the flame. All of them professed to have one object in view, but only five only were truly wise and the rest were foolish.

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The visible church of Christ is just in the same condition. All its members are baptized in the name of Christ, but not all really hear his voice and follow him.

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All are called Christians and profess to be of the Christian religion, but not all have the grace of the

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Spirit in their hearts and really are what they profess to be.

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Our own eyes tell us that it is so now. The Lord Jesus tells us it will be so when he comes again.

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Let us mark well this description. After all our preaching and praying, after all our visiting and teaching, after all our missionary exertions abroad and means of grace at home, many will be found at last dead in trespasses and sins.

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The wickedness and unbelief of human nature is a subject about which we all have much to learn.

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Amen J .C. Ryle. It would appear to me that one difference between the true

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Christian and the deluded professing Christian is that the true Christian is moved by God's Word, by the

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Holy Spirit, the command of the Lord, and his own conscience to be watchful with view to the second coming.

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He doesn't take it for granted. They are blessed for they are watching and will see the grace of salvation in its final finality and fullness at his coming.

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And so our Lord told his disciples, blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching.

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Assuredly, I say to you, he will gird himself. This is one of the most amazing statements in Scripture in my mind.

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Assuredly, I say to you, he's talking about himself, he will gird himself, have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.

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And if he should come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.

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A lot of people think that they're Christians because of some decision they made in the past or some experience they had in the past, and that's what they base their hope upon.

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Well, you know, that's fine and well, and you know, conversion experiences are wonderful.

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Some have more vivid ones than others. Some have very little, particularly those raised in a

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Christian church. They shouldn't feel like they're second place because they haven't got those glowing testimonies which they can testify.

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But it's not so much, it's not so important what has happened in the past. What's important is this, that you're believing now on Christ, and what's important is that you're believing on Christ when he comes, that he finds you watching.

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In other words, you're living in the light of his coming, you're living in the light of the judgment that's coming, and so you are walking circumspectly, you're walking in faith and obedience to him and fellowship with his people and fellowship with the

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Lord because you had in view that coming of the Lord. Blessed are those when he comes, find them so watching.

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And so this problem of superficial Christianity is a far -reaching one.

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There are many who believe themselves to be true Christians. They believe they have undergone conversion when they have not, and many times it's hard to distinguish them.

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In fact, Spurgeon commented about this in this way, and this is a sermon that's on our website, by the way.

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It's not surprising that there are false professors, and again, false professing believers, believers who falsely, who are not, but they think they are.

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There is an imitation of the externals of godliness, which is not easy to detect.

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In other words, you can look like a Christian outwardly pretty easily. Art, he's talking about an artist, art can carve a statue so that it almost breathes, looks alive, and some of us in looking at very skillful paintings have mistaken them for realities.

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In a notable picture in the exhibition, I was talking about, well back then it was like the

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World Fair in London, I think around 1860 or so, the exhibition, there is a noted exhibition, a picture in the exhibition you may have noticed an imitation of sunlight shining under a door, so well affected that many go up to it to ascertain if it not really be a gleam from the sun.

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We know that men can counterfeit coins and notes so well that only the most experienced can detect them, and in all commercial transactions men are so well aware of the subtlety of their fellows that they look well lest they be deceived.

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The vital mysteries of godliness are mysterious. The inner life cannot be perceived by the carnal eye, and the outer life of the godly seems to most men to be but morality carried out with care, and hence it becomes but a very simple task for a man to make himself look just like a

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Christian, so as to deceive the very elect. To learn by heart that which others may say from the heart, to get the outline of a believer's experience and then to adapt it skillfully to one's own self as our experience, is a thing so simple that instead of wondering that there are hypocrites,

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I often marvel that there are not ten times more. And then again the graces, the real graces within are very easy to counterfeit.

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There is a repentance that needed to be repented of, and yet it approaches near as possible to true repentance, that's

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King James language. Does repentance make men hate sin? They who have a false repentance may detest some crimes.

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Does repentance make men resolve that they will not sin? So will this false repentance, for Balaam said, if Barak should give me his house full of silver and gold,

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I will not go beyond the word of the Lord. But Balaam was a false prophet of course. Does true repentance make men humble themselves?

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So does false repentance, for Ahab humbled himself before God, and yet he perished. For there is a line of distinction so fine that an eagle's eye hath not seen it, and only

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God himself and the soul which is enlightened with his spirit can tell whether repentance be genuine or no.

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And as for faith, how easy is it to counterfeit this? Even in Christ's day there was a faith which wrought miracles but did not save the soul.

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And Paul tells us that if we had a faith which could remove mountains, yet if it had not charity or love it would profit us nothing.

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I know it, that a man may say that he is saved by faith without works, and his faith may give comfort, his faith help him in trials, it may make him forsake some sins, and yet it may not be the faith which looks alone to Christ and saves the soul.

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To imitate these things, to so cunning and well -practiced a counterfeiter as Satan, is no great difficulty.

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Now you know that might seem to muddy the waters, you know, how in the world can anybody then, you know, know?

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Well I think that that underscores the importance of the study doesn't it? What does the scripture say about true conversion?

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And we should pray that the Lord will help us in this. And as I think

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I might have mentioned last week, we need to pray that the right people are troubled by this. As I've, you know, said a number of times in the past, the most difficult aspect of standing up and teaching or preaching the

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Word of God is that those with tender hearts take the warnings and apply to themselves, and those that are hardest of heart don't do so, but rather they take the promises and apply them to themselves.

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Our Lord Jesus was tender toward people, he said, you know, it was said of him, a bruised reed he'll not break, a smoking flax he'll not quench until he sends forth justice to victory.

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And we don't want to overwhelm the weak, the frail, but we do want to, you know, do a thorough searching of ourselves because we don't want to be as many on that day of judgment, is that not right?

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So may the Lord help us in this. Well as I think about it there are really two major reasons for self -delusion of some that they are true

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Christians, they're deluded about this, they are sincere and they really think they're Christians. And I'm sure there are many other reasons but I thought of these two that seem to be quite prominent.

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And so if I could reduce the causes of self -delusion regarding salvation

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I'd say there are two. The first cause of self -delusion, and I worded this carefully by the way, the first cause of self -delusion is that most people believe because it's what they've been taught that salvation is the forgiveness of sins and that this forgiveness is obtained for us through Jesus Christ due to what he's done on behalf of sinners through his substitutionary life and death and resurrection in the place of sinners.

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In other words salvation is commonly viewed solely in terms of what God has done apart from us and outside of us.

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You see that? And so anybody and everybody is willing to accept who

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Jesus is and what he did outside of us. And that's how salvation is commonly presented.

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You can't save yourself by your works obviously which is truism, it's all due to what

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Christ did so you must believe on him. He did it all, he lived a life of righteousness for us, he died on the cross as our substitute and so we believe that, we believe on him and we receive salvation, even the forgiveness of sins.

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And so people are led to Christ to appropriate the forgiveness of sins through faith alone and who

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Jesus is and what he's done for sinners and therefore many people believe wrongly that they've been converted although they believe that with all their heart.

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For they've come to believe they're sinners, they're without hope in and of themselves and they've come to look to Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

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Now one might read that paragraph and think well what's wrong with that? It sounds so true, so biblical and that's why that's one of the problems.

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It is true but it's only half truth. The problem is that biblical salvation involves not only what

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Jesus Christ has done on behalf of sinners but that his work is external and apart from sinners.

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But rather biblical salvation involves what God does within his people, not just on behalf of his people but within his people and there is the kicker, there is the issue.

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For he transforms them into new creatures in Christ Jesus and so as we said at last Lord's Day, conversion not only involves faith in what

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God had done in Christ on behalf of his people on the cross but true conversion involves what the

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Holy Spirit has wrought in the hearts and lives of his people. And that's why you can have people who believe and understand all these things about Jesus and who he is and what he did and they brace that untrust in Jesus him alone as my

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Savior and they think they're safe and yet they are void of the grace of God that is working in them to transform them and make them like Christ and so that is how you determine ultimately who a true convert is and who is not.

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Not what they claim to believe about Jesus who he is and what he did but whether or not there's enough evidence in their lives to show forth the grace of salvation operative by the power of the

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Holy Spirit in their lives. That's how you determine who's a true convert and who's not.

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And so salvation includes not only the forgiveness of sins but also the new life that overcomes sin or another way to say it salvation includes not only

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God's imputation of righteousness in our positional justification but he also imparts grace to his people resulting in practical sanctification.

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And what the Puritans taught as we began to say last week what they brought back to a proper understanding to Christendom is that the way you determine you're justified before God is if you can show forth you're being sanctified by God.

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At some point we're going to have to address the whole problem of decisionism that's been around for about the last hundred and fifty years that basically says all you have to do is accept

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Jesus as your personal Savior and believe what he did on your behalf and you have salvation the forgiveness of sins and why that cuts short a true work of grace in converting people to Christ.

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Now thankfully God is converting people he's doing his work and he blesses truth even when it's mixed up with a lot of error and it would seem oftentimes

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God saves us in spite of us thankfully but nevertheless we want to get it right don't we?

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We don't want we want to be right ourselves and we want to be able to present a true representation of the gospel and Christ to the world and so the way you know you're justified is not because you have all the facts right you understand justification by grace through faith alone and you understand the imputation of Christ's righteousness through faith that he credits to you through faith alone it you know you can understand that and know that you can believe it but just because you believe that doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone and just because you believe that you have applied that to you through faith doesn't mean you have the way you know is if there is a work of grace being done in your life.

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John wrote in 1st John 3 7 and verse 10 they're similar verses I can't quote them directly but I can give you the sense of it he says don't be deceived in this he who practices righteousness is righteous he who is being sanctified is the one who is justified and so you cannot tell if a person is justified simply because they can recount to you the facts of who

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Jesus is accurately and fully what Jesus did on behalf of sinners what he did upon the cross and he rose again even that he is presently

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Lord unless that is manifest in the manner in which you live and a true conversion brings a person into that condition or that state of living and so we advocate a

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Christianity which is not just a mere form of godliness denying the power thereof but we advocate a

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Christian life that is characteristic and manifests the power of God to change people that's what true salvation is and if a person goes through life and professes to be a

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Christian and they can stand back and think although all those poor souls out there they're without Christ but I'm safe and yet you know your life is no different than them you're like the foolish man billions house on the sand and it'll be a rude awakening on the day of judgment may that not help happen to us so that's one cause and a major cause

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I think of self -delusion and that leads us to the second cause of self -delusion of many professing

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Christians who are not possessing Christians most Christians have been convinced that true conversion is far less than what the holy scriptures teach many look to slim or wrong evidence to support their belief that they are converted to Christ they've lowered the bar so that any and all who claim to be

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Christian are believed to be true Christians but when we study the scriptures we read that the bar is quite high that's what the

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Lord Jesus did enter that narrow gate and follow that narrow way that hard way that leads to life few there be that find it when you read the scripture it raises the bar of what constitutes a true

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Christian in fact we ought to present a true Christian in such a degree in such a way that we know that the only one that could possibly be that way is someone who has had the power of God working in his soul to convert him and give him new life in Christ living the

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Christian life is impossible for someone who has not truly been converted and if we are presenting the

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Christian life in a way that is anybody and everybody could just you know just like embracing some kind of you know a few a few simple doctrines and a commitment and that that's all there is to conversion we're not representing the

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Christian life rightly are we it's impossible for the natural man to live the

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Christian life Jesus told Nicodemus you have to be born again you can't do it you have to be converted conversion is absolutely essential and without conversion there is no salvation and so it's all important that we know what conversion is and so if we only considered what we set forth thus far we might be rather discouraged

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I hope not or perhaps feel incapable of sorting through these matters in fact one might be quick to say how can

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I be sure of myself if so many are deceived and if false conversion can look so much like true conversion how may

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I know well I would argue we can be thankful I think God has given us clear instruction in his word to discern true from false conversion even though it seems like you know in on the surface and from the world's point even from many professing

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Christians point of view it seems like you know there's so much confusion and it's all relative and it's hard to distinguish no the scriptures actually make it quite clear in a number of different ways how one can know for certain that he's a converted man and how one can come to understand he is not a converted man but has only been deluded and that's what we need to work through and we'll do so in the last few minutes that we have this morning and then we'll continue next week

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Lord's willing about this and so how do we determine if a true inward work of grace in the soul is taking place has taken place and so outwardly the true and false believer is not easily distinguished but when we examine the scriptures and we can begin to see in a clearer light much sharper relief what it is a true work of saving grace in the soul and so let's work through some of these first we would argue we may distinguish between true assurance of salvation and presumption or carnal confidence

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I think the scriptures give us the way the means to distinguish things there are those who have true assurance and there are those who have false assurance they're assured too but it's really presumption carnal confidence so numerous people across our land both in the church and out have assurance they have salvation assurance of salvation often believed to be an easy thing to attain my wife

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Mary pointed out a little heading on a web page the other day and it was clearly an invitation a gospel invitation so I followed the link and I went through and read the so -called gospel presentation and then the final page what to do and then write us if you've decided for Christ and there wasn't a word about repentance from sin not a word about obedience to Christ and yet people were being promised that they have salvation it's such a such a common thing and by the way if I might say and I you know

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I think that we should all be open about all these things that was a representation of the Billy Graham crusade it was terrible not biblical and yet that is commonly how

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Christianity is presented something that you can embrace and they assume that if you embrace this you're going to be transformed changed but that's not what happens and so how may we distinguish between true assurance and presumption well first understand there are some who have a true assurance of salvation and they should have thankfully there's true assurance and this is a full assurance and this is a blessing that every one of us should desire and I hope every one of us enjoy a true assurance of salvation and it's based on biblical teaching a sound assurance they've examined the biblical teaching respecting these things they pass the test in their own conscience regarding their condition

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I think however there are a few of these than we perhaps think but there is a sound assurance by the way if you don't have a solid sound assurance of salvation don't necessarily be alarmed by that Spurgeon rightly said the greatest blessing is to have a true sound assurance of salvation he said the second greatest blessing is doubting your salvation because the second will lead to the first and that's absolutely right it's this false assurance we want to expose and cast out right in fact

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I remember one of my brother -in -laws years ago we were talking about this superficial decisionism and how easy it is to get people to profess

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Christ and to a sinner's prayer and I happen to know his background and and how he came to Christ and I didn't doubt he was a true

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Christian he gives evidence of it in every way but you know knowing his background I said to him you know why why

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I think it would be easy to cause you to question your salvation you know the way you came to Christ and you know we're took this discussion

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I was trying to show the superficiality of it so what was his response he put his hands over there no no no

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I don't want to hear you he didn't he knew you know that I could probably shake him of it and I thought what kind of response is that you know our attitude can be if you can shake me of my assurance do it

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I give you license I don't want to be deceived but that was not his his response or his action let's let's desire and have a sound assurance and be open to the things of God well thankfully there are those who have true assurance and they should have but secondly there are some who are true

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Christians who do not have assurance of salvation but they should have they don't there's different reasons for that we don't have time to go into it but they're true

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Christians some of the early Reformers were mistaken when they said assurance of salvation always comes with saving faith they would argue well obviously you have assurance if you don't have assurance you must not be trusting

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Christ if you're truly trusting Christ you will have assurance and so many people were said though lack assurance because you don't truly have saving faith but that was wrong and the

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Puritans later corrected that by rightly saying it's reflected in our 1689 confession by the way that true

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Christians can go long without a full assurance and may struggle nevertheless the

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Lord keeps it and so true Christians may lack assurance even though they may rightly have.

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Thirdly there are many in this world who have assurance of salvation but they should not have and you know they have to be awakened that they have no legitimate biblical grounds for assurance

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God says of them they're without hope without God but they think they're okay they are the hardest to awaken and that's the condition of our land 70 % of Americans say they're

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Christian it would be I mean it would be the Millennium if we had 70 %

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Christians in this land it's just not the case but they think they are and fourth there are some who are true

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Christians who have assurance but the basis of their assurance is faulty we talked about some have assurance based upon some experience they had or some sinner's prayer they prayed some decision they make they may be

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Christians who have a right to true assurance but they're basing their assurance on the wrong things and sometimes when you expose those wrong things it sends these people into some difficulty when they come to see that and then fifthly there are those who have assurance but it's of a weak nature sometimes they feel assured but other times they quite despair their condition and that happens too when the light of God's presence and blessing becomes clouded for a number of different reasons that we don't have time to go into well how may we distinguish true assurance from false assurance and first recognize there's a vast difference in what has transpired in the heart of the true

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Christian but has not been experienced in the false convert a vast difference false assurance may be identified and that exists in one who is generally ignorant and without apprehension of the depth of his sin and the danger he's in while he's in his sin he's really clueless but he has assurance such a one arrives quickly to the belief that all is well between him and his

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God but he's actually blind to his true sinful condition and therefore his ground of assurance is faulty therefore the one with false assurance of salvation will commonly have an inordinate sense of self love in his soul he thinks he's he's all too well everything's all too well of himself he sees no reason well why

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God you know why wouldn't God accept me why he loves me is the thought he's clueless second there's a great difference between the one with true assurance and the one with carnal confidence in their motivations and their perception of the ground of their acceptance of God the one with true assurance is very aware of a work of God's grace in his soul bringing him to faith in Jesus Christ and we're going to talk in coming weeks about how

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God normally calls people to salvation there are some common ways that this may be seen but the one with false assurance who's not a true convert to Christ has only a natural superficial understanding of grace

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God's work of grace and his soul is not apparent because God has not been at work in that realm of his life he's clueless when you begin to ask some spiritual questions it becomes apparent the one with true assurance of salvation knows that his is not from any worth or effort that he's rendered to God but that he's solely a debtor to God's mercy and God's grace but the superficial professor of Christianity believes himself to be quite good and that really his goodness is the cause of God's blessing he says the self -righteous

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Pharisee that our Lord described the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself

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I love that King James expression the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself

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God I thank you that I'm not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even as his tax collector there is a self -righteousness among a lot of professing

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Christians as we watch our culture deteriorate and people go off into their sin there is a tendency of thinking that we are quite superior because of our righteousness and our righteous standards and and that's picked up easily by the world by the way

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I thank you Lord I'm not like them we better be careful about that it's a subtle danger the third difference between the true child of God and the one who's deceived is that true

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Christian possesses a deep -seated humiliation for his sin and he feels burdened for it this is how the prophet

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Ezekiel described the one who's experienced salvation then you will remember your evil ways your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations you will loathe yourselves in your own sight

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Paul told was it the Philippians think think more highly of other people than yourself that goes so contrary to the present world and the whole idea of self -esteem the real problem mankind you've got low self -esteem

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Bible says no you've got too high self -esteem you need to see yourself as you are guilty and really deserving of damnation and you're burdened by your sin in many ways we as professing

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Christians are more guilty than those that don't know Christ we're sinning against light we know of God we know what

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God says we know what his word says they might be doing it in ignorance we're not commonly the one with false assurance never doubts but is always assured and that on slender grounds

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I read another passage in J .C. Ryle he said I don't think much of the one who has assurance that's never troubled by it and then a fourth quality of true assurance is that it sustains the true believer through the most difficult of life's trials that is a sure test true assurance is sustained through trials because it's born of and sustained by the power of God so trials will reveal true faith quicker perhaps than anything as as who was

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Anthony Burgess state stated so it is with true assurance it abides though billows and waves come upon it so that troubles will discern the truth of your graces and comforts sooner than anything else how do you determine a true

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Christian from a non -christian throw some trials into the midst and we'll see who comes out the other side believing

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Peter wrote of the necessity of trials we won't read that because of the time let's close with this fifth issue there is a clear difference between what accompanies a sound assurance of salvation from the one who is not a true convert of Jesus Christ true assurance comes with a genuine fear of the

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Lord which is seen in a holy concern to please and not to disappoint the

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Lord the soul which has experienced true conversion continues to be humble and strives to be holy before God you see we're talking about an inward work of grace in all these matters aren't we and so it's not just an objective thing what

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Christ who Christ is and what Christ did on our behalf but is God working grace in our souls the grace of salvation the grace of the new birth this is where conversion is truly seen not only a work of God on our behalf but a work of God within may the

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Lord help us as we sort through these matters and again I'm hoping that this not trouble you as a true

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Christian but refine you and give you greater measure of peace and assurance rather than fear and doubt perfect love casts out fear let's pray thank you our father for your word and for the clarity that we see some of these things before us and we pray in our study you continue to help us and direct us we pray we pray that you would undeceive any that might be deceived we pray that you would assure those that who have a legitimate right to assurance may you comfort them give them peace and we pray that you would help each of us

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Lord in our witness to represent Jesus Christ faithfully to the fallen world about us revive us our