I trust you have prepared your hearts to hear the Word of God this morning and to receive what the Spirit has to say. So let me invite you to take your Bibles and turn yet again to First Corinthians. I'm sorry, Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, chapter 13. I'd like to look at verses two through six as we continue to make our way through this epistle. And we're doing so this morning, under the heading, "Validating Genuine Saving Faith."

The apostle Paul says,

"I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone,

since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.

For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet he lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?

But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.

Jesus has made it clear in his word that the majority of people who profess him as Lord will never enter the kingdom. It's a frightening thought. It's because they are self-deceived. They know him intellectually, but they do not know Him experientially. They have never truly embraced Him as their Savior and Lord. And certainly, this was part of Paul's concern in Corinth. Recent surveys reveal that a large percentage of people who self-identify as evangelical do not understand even the most basic principles of gospel truth. In this poll of self-styled evangelicals, 52% said they reject the concept of absolute truth. 61% do not read the Bible daily. 75% believe people are basically good. 48% believe salvation can be earned by good works. 44% believe the Bible does not condemn abortion. 43% believe Jesus may have sinned. 78% believe Jesus is the first being created by God. 46% believe the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person. 40% believe lying is morally acceptable in certain circumstances. 34% accept same sex marriage as consistent with biblical teaching. 26% reject Scripture as God's word, and 50% say church attendance is not necessary.

Of course, most of those views are incompatible with saving faith, so most of these people are not truly born again, and yet they profess Christ as Savior. We all know professing Christians that embrace the most gross forms of immorality, like we see in the whole LGBTQ movement. We all know professing Christians who actually vote for politicians who not only support these things, but legislate these things, criminalizing righteousness, and those who believe In the word of God. We all know professing Christians who consider themselves woke, who support the blasphemous and deceptive ideologies of black liberation theology that has given life to critical race theory and Black Lives Matter and so forth. We all know professing Christians who live as if God's word and God's will has no meaning whatsoever in their life. They're just cultural Christians; Christian in name only. We all know professing Christians who attend a church like one might attend a country club, but they have no real love for Christ. They have no sense of their own sinfulness and the power of God's grace. They've never truly repented. They have no appetite for the Word of God, no desire to live for his glory. They have no commitment to personal holiness in their life, no separation from the world, no prayer life, no measurable spiritual growth whatsoever, no burden for the lost, no desire to submit to the Lordship of Christ.

You will recall that Jesus addressed this issue when he spoke to the mass of disciples that were following him in Luke 6:46, he said, "'Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say?'" Countless numbers of professing Christians today believe in Jesus intellectually, and they like to socialize with other Christians. They even like to embrace many aspects of Christian morality and tradition, but they only give lip service to the Lordship of Christ in their life. They have no desire to be his willing slave and obey Him come what may. Knowing this, this danger of self-deception, Jesus went on to say, "'Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house. It could not shake it, because it had been built well. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.'"

This was Paul's great concern for those people in the church at Corinth; many of them had foolishly embraced the false teaching of the false apostles, who were doing everything they could to undermine Paul's apostolic authority. And it's little wonder that they also refused to repent of the sins that were listed in chapter 12, verse 20, the sins of strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances, and those who have sinned in the past, he says, and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced. So it was a serious problem. At a most fundamental level, some were still just unsubmissive. They were rebellious. They didn't really care what the Apostle Paul had taught them. They refused to submit to God's authority, which is the very essence of sin. And God's authority was revealed to them through the words of the inspired apostle Paul, who many of them have now rejected, and unlike the false apostles who spoke on their own authority, Paul, according to Second Corinthians, four, five, did not preach himself, "but Christ Jesus as Lord," and himself as the Corinthians bond servant "for Jesus' sake."

But many of the people had been led astray by the satanic deceptions of the false apostles that were teaching them, unlike Paul, who spoke according to Second Corinthians six, beginning in verse six, "in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left." But sadly, many professing Christians today are like this. They refuse to submit themselves to the authority of Scripture. They disregard the inspiration of Scripture. And many preachers reject the authority of Scripture, even in their preaching, and that they deny, and they distort or they ignore various passages of Scripture, things that are clearly taught in his word. We see this all the time. For example, God clearly forbids women to have authority and preach in the church. But what do we see? Women preachers everywhere, growing rapidly. Seminaries filling up with women who want to be preachers. He forbids the adding to or the subtracting from the closed canon of Scripture. But what do we see? People all over the place claiming that God spoke to them, that they have received special revelation from God. He says anyone who preaches a different gospel is to be cursed. And what do we see? A prosperity gospel or a social justice gospel. He says the church is to be led by elders who meet the qualifications of First Timothy three and Titus one. But what do we see? Many churches being led by women or by men that are clearly unqualified, or the church becoming a democracy ruled by the congregation. He gave instruction in First Timothy 3:15, "So that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth." But instead of believing this and living consistently with this, we see modern evangelicalism embracing the man centered gospels and the worldly ministry philosophies of evangelical pragmatism that seeks to make the church more attractive and more relevant to the culture; church that is less dogmatic, more therapeutic, more entertaining, more politically correct. He warns that neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers, nor effeminate nor homosexuals shall inherit the kingdom of God in First Corinthians six. But today we see ostensibly evangelical churches not only embracing these things but ordaining these people to be pastors. And then when faithful preachers do preach the word of God, which is their only source of authority, we see the culture mocking them and canceling them.

Yesterday, I was asked to be part of what was called a webinar - never done one before - and it was moderated by a dear pastor from Krakow, Poland. And it was designed to help people understand my latest book, "Why America hates Biblical Christianity." But I was told that Facebook would not promote it because it did not meet their community standards. And we're going to see more and more of that. You know, every pastor, indeed, every believer, must decide who they're going to serve. Are you going to serve the Lord? Are you going to serve yourself? Who are you going to fear? Are you going to fear? Going to fear God? Are you going to fear man? But remember this, as Peter said in First Peter 4:11, "Whoever speaks," wrote, Peter, "is to speak, as it were, the utterances of God."

Similarly, Paul instructed Titus, in Titus 2:15, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you." Moreover, he exhorted Timothy in First Timothy 4:11, "These things prescribe," which means to instruct with authority. "These things prescribe and teach." And to be sure Paul knew where this rebellion in the church was going to lead. And all we have to do is look around in our culture, not just here in the United States, but all across the world, and we see where rebellion against the authority of God, as he has revealed himself in scriptures, is going to lead. It. And unfortunately today, many evangelical churches are largely apostate. They have more goats than sheep, and they have more tares than wheat.

Now, as we examine our text this morning, in light of all of this, in light of the danger of denying the authority that God has given us in His word, I want us to pay attention to some of the most dominant themes of this passage, and it basically centers around the profound importance of validating genuine saving faith. How can we know that we are truly born again? Because none of us want to be self-deceived. And to do this, I have two very simple points in my outline that I hope will be helpful to you. We're going to look, first of all at the danger of rebelling against divine authority, and then secondly, the disastrous result of self-deception. And sadly, the former will lead to the latter, rebellion against the truth will always lead to self-deception, which will lead to sin and divine judgment. Many of the people in the church of Corinth, and many people today are like those described in Second Timothy four, beginning in verse three, as those who "will not endure sound doctrine but want to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto myths."

When it says, "they will turn away their ears from the truth," the Greek grammar has that in the active voice, meaning that will be a deliberate turning away, they will choose to do this, but then "turning aside unto myths" is in the passive voice, which means that the myths will literally take them over and consume them. In fact, the verb translated "turn away" is a very strong term in the original language, and it was used as a medical term to describe the wrenching of a limb out of joint. And what's interesting is the desire in many people to believe something, anything other than the truth, is so strong that they will do everything they possibly can to exchange the truth for a lie, and unfortunately, they will come up with things that will satisfy their own personal pleasures and their own theological preferences, even if their theology is absurd and demonstrably false and cannot stand up to the scrutiny of exegesis. We see this in the social justice gospel. We see this in the word faith movement and so forth, the prosperity gospel.

And in that text where they "will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto myths," the grammar indicates that once they make that choice in their heart, they will abandon the truth without any real awareness of their desertion, and the myths will consume them. This is consistent with what we see in Romans one where people refuse to believe the truth of who God is, the truth of the gospel and so forth, and God gives them over to the wrath of divine abandonment. And you will recall there's a three-stage process there. They will first be given over to sordid immorality, and then secondly, to shameless homosexuality. And finally, the third stage is shocking depravity.

Well, all of this, dear friends, begins when a man or a woman rebels against the authority that God has given us in his word. And this is the very first point that I would submit to you: the danger of rebelling against divine authority.

Now notice verse two, Paul says, "I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone." You will recall here now, he is referring to his willingness to exercise his apostolic authority in disciplining those who refuse to repent of these ongoing sinful patterns. He goes on to say, in verse three, "...since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you." Indeed he was mighty in many of them. It was Christ who raised them from spiritual death to spiritual life. And he's arguing this now. I want you people to see this. Yes, it was Christ who took upon himself the weakness of human flesh in his incarnation. The word of God, says that "He emptied Himself," in Philippians, two seven, "taking on the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men." We know that he came the first time in utter obscurity. He was born in a manger, raised by carpenter peasants in a no name town of Nazareth. And he said of himself in Matthew 8:20, "'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'" He didn't even have a jet to fly in for his ministry; no ministry empire, no entourage to carry his bags. Isaiah tells us, in Chapter 53 verse three, that, "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

And yet, dear friends, in his weakness, he bore our sins in his body on a Roman cross, and he was raised from the dead, and he now sits at the right hand of the Father. Can there be any greater evidence of his power to save and to sanctify? So Paul is saying, those of you who have decided to turn away from divine truth that I've taught you, those of you who are believing the scurrilous lies of these false apostles, those of you who believe that because I was meek and gentle toward you, that somehow I am weak, you're in for a big surprise when I come again, because I am going to confront this. I am going to discipline this. I'm going to discipline all of you who persist in your rebellion.

Now, we must remember the context here, because his interpersonal style of relating and preaching was not loud and aggressive and bombastic like the false teachers, which, by the way, were traits that the Greeks really loved. They decided that because he wasn't this way, well, you know, he's probably not an apostle after all, because this is what an apostle really needs to be like. And also, despite the fact that their lives had been radically changed, that they had been converted by his preaching. Moreover, they had witnessed the miraculous signs that he had performed in their midst. Despite all of that, there's still some of them believing these lies.

Again, in Second Corinthians 12:12, Paul says, "the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles." And yet you're still believing these ridiculous things. So Paul is saying, look, folks, don't misrepresent my gentleness in trying to restore you as a sign of weakness, as though Christ does not speak in me. Verse four, "For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives." In other words, he has been resurrected from the dead. "He lives because of the power of God, for we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you." Beloved, you need to underscore this magnificent truth, because we are united to Christ, because we are in Christ, because we are in the Beloved, as the old King James tells us, we exist in him, and we possess resurrection power, and someday we are going to be able to manifest that at the right time. And the implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ exceed the importance and the power and the potential of all other events in human history. It is rivaled only by the actual creation of the universe. When you stop and think about it. You see, within the resurrection body of Jesus Christ existed the supernatural power source of eternal life, the supernatural power source of of God's eternal kingdom. And to think we are united to him and in a mystery beyond our capacity to understand, we are told in Scripture, and we've experienced this, that He has redeemed us, that He might inhabit us. He lives within the redeemed, and we exist in him. Paul says in Colossians, three, three, our life is hidden with Christ, in God. That's absolutely astounding.

And Paul says in Romans 8:11 "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." So beloved, think of this, and this is at the heart of what Paul is telling them, dormant within the resurrection body of Christ is the seed of resurrection glory of all whom the Father had given him, which includes you and me, if we are united to Christ in saving faith; the infinite power source of the universe. And if you're united to Christ, if you truly love him, and you submit to him as the Lord of your life, you're like a nuclear warhead ready to explode. Think about that. One day we are going to explode in unimaginable power and glory. What precious and profound comfort this should be to every child of God.

It's for this reason that Paul said in Second Corinthians four beginning in verse 16, "Therefore do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." You know, Friends, we all have those times when suddenly we feel like we're out of resources, right? Where we just find ourselves in a sense of desperation. Perhaps we're fatigued, we're overwhelmed. We want to collapse in despair, but by the power of Christ to whom we are united, can't we all identify with those times when suddenly, in the midst of our pain and our sorrow and our weakness, we experience an inexplicable sense of the divine presence. His word becomes real to us in ways that we have, heretofore, not ever even really imagined. Suddenly, the power of Christ fills our heart and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. You know when sins, temptation seems overwhelming. remember what Paul said in Romans six, beginning in verse four, "Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over Him for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Now the apostle Paul, had repeatedly underscored his own weaknesses in his epistles to the Corinthians. You will recall in Second Corinthians 12, instead of running from his weakness, he described what God was doing in his life. You remember he implored the Lord three times that he might remove a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to torment him, to keep him from exalting himself. But you will remember that Jesus answered Paul, and Paul reveals this in that chapter, and he says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, Paul says, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." And dear friends, it is this kind of power brought about by the weakness that he understood and the things that that God brought into his life, it is it is because of these things that the power of God operated freely in his life and in his ministry. And it is this power that will be unleashed upon these unrepentant people who refuse to submit to God's authority, and who persist in their rebellion.

And I must add that, since this power is always linked to the authority of God, as he has revealed himself in his word, it will only be manifested by those who truly submit to that authority and to those who preach his word. John MacArthur said, "If pastors and elders are to call the church to repentance, and discipline those who refuse to repent, they must possess divine authority to do so. That authority rests in the Word of God, making it essential that it be preached and applied clearly, compellingly and with conviction." He went on to say, "Those who persistently reject the authority of Scripture call into question the genuineness of their salvation."

Well, this, of course, was what was going on in Corinth. I had a friend call me this week and said, Dave, I need to know how to respond. I've got this co-worker and friend that I've known for a long time. He claims to be a believer. Every time we get together, he starts telling me how God is revealing all these things to him and on and on and on, all of the bizarre kind of charismatic type of things. And he says he loves to challenge all the Orthodox doctrines, and all of his truth claims are validated by his experience, not by by exegesis. And I wrote one of the things down. He said he has an answer for everything, but it's always some strange, twisted answer. Well, that's evidence of the kind of person that rejects the authority of Scripture, the kind of person who has turned away their ears from the truth and they've turned aside unto myths. First Corinthians 2:14, this is described in the context of the natural man, the unsaved man, and there we read, "but a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised." In other words, they're bereft of illuminating grace that is only the result of the divine presence of the Holy Spirit. So they have no ability to discern spiritual truth. Their eyes are blinded by the god of this world. They are self-deceived. They are like the mathematical fool who will always believe that two plus two is five. Findlay says, quote, "The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics. They are deaf men judging music." Well stated. Therefore, these kinds of people rebel against God. And as we've studied before, we are to reject a factious man, Titus 3:10, and 11. Reject a "hairetikos" after the second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted in sinning and is self-condemned.

So first we see the danger here that he's dealing with the danger of rebelling against divine authority. And this moves to really the heart of this whole passage, and that's the thedisastrous result of self-deception. Notice what he tells them. Verse five, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!" In other words, determine whether or notyou're a true believer, a true Christian, or do you just possess some phony faith? Dear friends, please hear this. Never underestimate the power of self-deception in your own heart. You know we can convince ourselves of virtually anything, can't we? We can rationalize, we can justify our sin - even the most grievous sins, we are hopelessly biased in our own favor. We can pretend so effectively that we can actually convince ourselves of that which is false, which may include just the genuineness of our faith. And frankly, unless you discard your costume of religious hypocrisy, one day, that costume will testify against you and it will become your grave clothes for eternity.

It's for this reason that self-examination is a prerequisite for coming to the Lord's table. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 11:28, actually, beginning in verse 27 he says, We're not to come and eat or drink in an unworthy manner. And then he says in verse 28, "A man must examine himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup." And then in verse 31 he says, "But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged." And again, what a mockery that is, to come to such a solemn ceremony that commemorates Christ's death on our behalf, to come to that table still clinging to our sin or partaking of those elements ritualistically with no real thought of what they mean.

So again, back to the text. In verse five, "Test yourselves," he says, "to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you failed the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test." Now let's understand once again the context. Paul understood that most of these people were truly born again, and they could recognize this about themselves, both objectively and you know, they could look at their changed lives, their conversion, they could see fruit in their lives, but they could also validate this subjectively, because of the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit.

You will recall in Romans eight and verse 16, we read that, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." And what a joy it is to be able to know that we can know that we are truly born again, unlike the Roman Catholics that tell us that we cannot ever know, or even many Arminians. I remember talking with one very prominent Free Will Baptist pastor and Bible college president, and he said there is no way that anybody can know that they've truly been born again. There's no real way of having assurance. You just can't know until you die. How sad. The apostle John assures us that we can know that we have eternal life in various passages, I listed a few of them here in First John, let me just read them to you. "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep his commandments. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death." Another passage, "The one who keeps His commandments, abides in Him and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Then he says in chapter five and verse 13, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."

Now back to our text. Remember, Paul is defending his apostolic authority, and Paul knew that their changed hearts and their changed lives were the most convincing proof of his apostleship. He knew that, that's why he's arguing in this way. But Paul also knew that there were still those who inwardly rebelled against God's authority. They had no desire to submit to the Lordship of Christ, and they remained unrepentant. They were self-deceived. They merely professed Christ, but they did not truly possess him. They were Christian in name only. And this is a common problem. Most people believe that if you have made some profession of faith, if you've prayed some prayer, or in some cases, walked an aisle and prayed the prayer, then that validates your faith, especially if it's followed by baptism. But you will remember what Jesus said in Luke eight and verse 13, the parable of the sower and the seed of the gospel. He said, "'Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, they receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.'" In other words, they made the profession, but it wasn't real. He went on to say, "'The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures in of this life and bring no fruit to maturity.'" So just having a mere profession of faith doesn't validate the genuineness of it. Some convince themselves of their salvation on the basis of having an intellectual understanding of the gospel. They believe the facts of the gospel, but they have no real conviction of sin, no real love for Christ, no hungering or thirsting for righteousness. And Jesus refutes this, he says in John 8:31, "So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'"

And likewise, James two beginning in verse 19, we read, "You believe that God is one. You do well," he says, "the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?" Works there referring to the fruit of faith, not the root of it; the result of faith, not the source of it.

Some believe that being affiliated with a church or some denomination proves their faith. But Jesus made it clear in Matthew 13 that the enemy sows tares among the wheat, that they grow up together in the church until the harvest. And in verse 30, we read, "'...and in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, "First, gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

And as I alluded to earlier in Matthew seven, beginning in verse 21 Jesus says, "'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven.'" But then he describes those who will, "'...but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven, will enter.'" In other words, those who submit to the Lordship of Christ and to the authority of my word, those are the ones that are truly regenerate. Then he went on to say, "'Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name, cast out demons and in Your name, perform many miracles?"'" In other words, didn't we do all of these religious activities? Surely that proves that we are born again. He says, "'I will declare to them, "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."'" So just having church affiliation, being involved in ministry, doesn't necessarily validate your faith.

Other people validate the genuineness of their faith by their outward, their visible morality. Well, boy, if that's the case, Heaven will be filled with Pharisees, right? So you can't prove it on that basis. Others validate the genuineness of their faith because they are convicted of sin. Well, Judas Iscariot was convicted of sin. He felt remorse over his sin. You will recall. He returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." So that's not a mark necessarily, in and of itself, of genuine saving faith.

Well, I know you're asking, Well, Pastor, what are some of the marks of genuine saving faith? Because those things don't necessarily prove and in some ways disprove the genuineness of faith. Let me give you six very basic categories. One of the first marks of a person that has truly been born again, and you can examine your own life here in light of this is, that of brokenness over sin. A person who has truly come to faith in Christ realizes, first and foremost, that they have offended a holy God, that they have violated his law, and they're terrified of the judgment that they deserve. They understand that all that they are and all that they do are fundamentally offensive to a holy God, that they've been born in sin. They understand that they have an innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. Unlike the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 18, remember how he bragged about his spiritual merit, a person that's truly been born again will be like the tax collector described in verse 13, the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's the stuff of genuine saving faith. This is the man or the woman who recognizes his or her spiritual bankruptcy. As Jesus said in Matthew five, verse three, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.'" This is the person that comes to the Lord and says "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress, helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me savior, or I die." That's the stuff of genuine saving faith.

Not only would you look for brokenness of sin, but you must have belief in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the gospel. You must understand that sinful man can never be reconciled to a holy God apart from faith in the one substitute who paid the penalty for our sin; that it was Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, the Son of the living God, that died and was buried and was raised again from the dead. It's for this reason that Paul says in Romans 10, beginning in verse nine, "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Have you done that, dear friend? "For with the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, 'WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NO BE DISAPPOINTED.'"

We can go to the Gospel of John, and we can see on every page how John reveals the glory of Christ, the deity of Christ. And then he says in John 20 and verse 31, "...these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His name."

And you will recall Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit; said in Acts 4:12, "...and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." A person must understand these great truths, at least at a fundamental level, even as a child could understand the basics of who Christ is.

Thirdly, there must be repentant faith. When a person is truly born again, they have a hatred of their sin. They have a desire to turn from their sin and turn to Christ. They have a determination to forsake sin. It's one that is so strong that it dominates every thought and directs every act of their life. That's the stuff of genuine saving faith. You will recall the first recorded word Jesus spoke at the outset of his public ministry was "repent." "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" A person that understands this, because the Spirit of God is at work in his heart, or her heart, will say, "Father, forgive me. I see the horror of my sin. It's everywhere, and I'm crying out to you for mercy. Forgive me. And I want to walk in a totally different direction, by your power, by your grace."

A fourth category that we could look at in a person that's truly been born again is that there will be a hungering and a thirsting for righteousness. Again, Jesus said in Matthew five, six, "'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.'" This is a person who has a longing to be like Christ; a longing to manifest the glory of Christ in their life; a passionate desire to know Christ and to live a life that is pleasing to Him. This is a person that has a passionate love for God and a desire for intimate fellowship with Him. A desire so strong that prayer becomes the very air that they breathe. The Word of God is the very nourishment of their soul. They will have an insatiable appetite to devour the word. This is the stuff of genuine saving faith. You know, when we're born again, isn't it amazing how God's desires become our desires, and this is going to grow over time. But when we come to Christ, we're made a new creature in Christ, the old things pass away, the new things come. He causes us, according to Romans 61:7, to "become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which we were committed." Forget about the externals. It's the heart. "For indeed," he went on to say in First John 2:29, "if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him."

Fifthly, if you look at your life and you want to really test yourself, ask yourself the question, "Do I see a joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ?" Now, mind you, all of these things overlap, but a person that truly has been born again is going to have a joyful willingness desire to submit to the authority of Christ, they're going to want to walk by the Spirit so they won't carry out the desires of the flesh. Jesus says, "'My sheep hear My voice and they,'" what? "'..they follow Me.'" No mere lip service, not a mere hearer of the word - Oh boy, it was a good sermon, and then you live like the rest of the world during the week, but you're a doer of the word. Again, Matthew 7:21, "'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven, will enter.'" There's that joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ. John 8:31, Jesus says, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.'" Are you abiding in His Word"? In his upper room discourse, you will recall Jesus told his disciples in John 14, "'If you love me, you will keep My commandments.'" Verse 23 went on to say, "'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our abode with him.'" Then he says, "'He who does not love Me does not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.'"  First John two, beginning in verse three, "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him."

You say you're a Christian, and yet you believe these bizarre, idiotic, unbiblical things, and you claim to be a pastor, a Christian? You're part of a church that teaches things that clearly are in violation of what God has said in his word? Dear friends, all I can say to you on the basis of Scripture is, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. You have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. He went on to say, "'But whoever keeps His word in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this, we know that we are in Him. The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

And if I could give you one final test of genuine saving faith. That would be that this kind of person will have a love for God and a love for other people. What is the first and foremost commandment? That we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Again, First John five and verse two, "By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments." First John two and verse nine, "The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness, until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

You see folks when we truly come to saving faith in Christ, we see him as the over of our soul. We're overwhelmed by his mercy, and you'll never be amazed at God's grace until you're first amazed at your own sin. And once you see your sin, you will see the Savior for who he really is, and you will love him passionately. And this will manifest itself in how you love others. You will have a desire - it will not be a duty - it will be a desire to live out the "one anothering" passages in Scripture.

Moreover, you will have a burden for the lost. You'll have a burden for your unsaved children and your unsaved family members and your unsaved friends. Beloved, these are the things you must look for when you examine your own heart. These are the attitudes and the actions of genuine saving faith. Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. "Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you..." And of course, Paul knew that most of them were going to say, Yeah, I know he's in me. And by saying that, what would happen? It would validate his apostolic authority, because they would realize that they were saved because of what God had told them through the apostle. "Unless indeed, you fail the test..."

Dear friends, I plead with you, as a minister of the gospel to examine your life. As best I can tell most everybody that's a part of Calvary Bible Church truly knows and loves Christ. My goodness you can just see it all over the place, but there may be some that are self-deceived; only you know your own heart. But I am so thankful that we can have the assurance of salvation when we examine ourselves in light of what God has said in his word. Aren't you thankful for that? I don't know, just makes me want to sing. And I'm so thankful for what God has done in my heart and hopefully in your heart. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these glorious truths. May they impact our lives in a profound way. May we all enjoy the fullness of your grace in our lives. And for those that may not know you as Savior, I pray that today will be the day that they truly come to you in repented faith. We thank you. We give you praise in Jesus' name, Amen.