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Transcript 099D — Can I Know if I am Saved?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum
CALLER: How can I determine whether I or another person is a born again believer?
HC: The way we can discover whether we're a born again believer is to look at ourselves very very honestly. To be a born again believer is to arrive at the moment of truth, when we dare to face ourselves exactly as we are.
Now first of all, have I been ready to admit that I am the awful sinner that the Bible declares that I am? The Bible says "There is none righteous, no, not one." The Bible says that all of us have gone astray, that our best works are as filthy rags, and that because of our sins we're under the wrath of God. Am I really ready and willing to face this awful, this traumatic truth about myself? As long as we think that there is righteousness within ourselves, that of ourselves we are worthy in any way, then we don't understand really what salvation is all about.
Secondly, as we look at ourselves as honestly as this, do we really find in our hearts a desire to live for Christ? Not because it's going to get us anything, but simply because that is our desire. We want to live for Christ, and the proof of it is that earnestly we are turning away from sin. As we look at our life, is there a positive, definite difference from what it was before we were saved?
And thirdly, do we accept without reservation the biblical truth that our sins have all been forgiven? Are we secure in that trust, that Jesus means what he says?
Now when we can do this honestly, it doesn't mean we've become perfect. But when we can do this honestly, we can know that we're born again believers, because this will only come to born again believers. In 1 John 2:4 we read, "By this we can know Him, if we keep His commandments." And this is keeping His commandments, just by an inner desire that is within us to do this. This is the evidence of being born again.
A born again believer is someone who will have a real desire to be obedient to whatever he finds in the Bible. And he will be ready to accept whatever the Bible teaches. This is one of the hardest pills to swallow, that if Christ is really our Savior and Lord, then we have to be open to everything that the Bible teaches, and it alone is the divine Word for our living.
And this means that from to time we may have to give up some doctrine or some practice that we here-to-fore thought was perfectly acceptable because certain men, whom we have lots of trust in, have so taught us. The Bible must be the final authority.
CALLER: How does the Lord take sin out of our lives?
HC: The Lord takes sin out of our lives by working through our repentance. We must repent of our sins. If we have a sin in our life that, you're speaking about a specific sin?
CALLER: No. Any of our sins. I just wonder if he works through us as we read the Word, or if we pray and He takes it out that way, just any sin that we might have.
HC: Well, let's start out with a person who is unsaved. He is a sinner. Now by grace he has been saved, and God gives him a new heart. And then there is found in his life an earnest desire to live for Christ. And the evidence of salvation is that he knows that it's wrong to be a drunkard. He knows it's wrong to live in adultery. He knows it's wrong to steal. And so he stops these things.
But then, as a born again believer, he discovers a sin that is still troubling. Maybe he wasn't really conscious of that other sin before he was saved. Or possibly this sin just began to kind of work up in his life as he grew older. But he becomes conscious of this sin. Now what does he do?
God works through our repentance. We must repent of our sin. We must turn away from it. We must look upon it as rebellion against God, as an act of anarchy against our Savior, and take any steps we can to cut that sin off. And God of course will strengthen us as we do it.
And when we do this, then God will also take the desire for that sin from us. But we can pray and pray and pray for removal of sin. But if we don't repent, the next time the opportunity arises, we'll go right back into that sin. The fact is, if we have not repented, even while we're praying, "Oh Lord, forgive me for that sin, I don't want to sin any more," we know in our heart that tomorrow, when the opportunity arises, we will fall into that same sin again. This is because we have not repented. We aren't really leveling with ourself that this is rebellion against God and that this sin has got to go. God works through our repentance.
CALLER: Would it be our conscience? Is that it?
HC: No. Our conscience is the way God works to remind us that we are a sinner, and He keeps us uneasy. But repentance is an act of our will, where we look that sin squarely in the eye. It's sin, dirty, rotten sin. It's spitting in the face of Christ, if you will. It's an act of open rebellion against our Savior. And here I claim to be a child of Christ. And yet time after time I willfully walk into that sin. I willfully do this. Now what kind of business is this? This sin has got to go. And so I can't stand this any longer, that I'm going to be a slave of this sin. "Oh Lord strengthen me as I turn away from it." And ruthlessly I cut off that sin from my life. That is the way God works. And of course obviously I am praying, "Oh Lord, strengthen me. Oh Lord, give me a hatred for this. Oh Father, open my eyes to the awfulness of this sin, so that I'll be so angry at it that I'll never want to do it again."