Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. Today I'm beginning a series
of messages that will accompany a new book that we're offering.
The title of the book and the title of this series of messages,
and this is the introduction, the title is, What is a Christian? What is a Christian? It's a biblical
study of the one true faith. Because I believe that true Christianity
is the one true faith, the only way of salvation. And this series
of messages and this book is based upon what I call the command
of God to his people to do what the Bible says to do. For example,
in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5, where
the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, he says, examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith. Faith, there is a
noun. In other words, it's sort of
like saying, it could be saying examine yourselves, test yourselves
whether you be a true Christian. The faith here is the faith of
Christianity. the body of belief that true
Christians hold. And then he goes on to say, prove
your own selves. That is, test your own selves.
Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except you be reprobates. And that word reprobate means
to be disqualified. In other words, if I claim to
be a Christian, am I truly a Christian or am I fooling myself? And that's
what this book is about. What is a Christian? If I claim
to be a Christian, and I do, and if you claim to be a Christian,
which many of you do, well, what is a Christian? What is the one
true faith? And I urge you to order the book
and eventually the series of messages on DVD or CD, and we
offer it free of charge, so I think it'd be worth your while. Now,
let me emphasize this too. No human book can even compare
to this book right here, the Bible, the inspired, verbally
inspired, inerrant Word of God. No human book is infallible.
The Word of God is infallible. No human book can compare with
the Bible and certainly no human book can replace the Bible. So
understand that when we offer you this book, we're not saying
don't read your Bibles, don't consider. What this book is about
is a companion to the Bible to guide you through the scriptures
or some of the main scriptures that define from the Bible what
a true Christian is and what a true Christian is not. Now
certainly we would say a true Christian is a follower of Jesus
Christ. But what does that mean? First
of all, consider that the word Christian And the title Christian
and Christianity has been so watered down and broadened today
and it's always been this way really since that name came down. But it's been so watered down
and so broadened today that really most people don't understand
what a Christian is and what a Christian is not. We hear that
term on television all the time. Our political leaders use it.
But do we really understand from the Bible what a Christian is?
There's so many denominations that call themselves Christian.
We're living in a day where false Christianity is rampant. And the Bible predicts this.
The Lord predicted Himself. He said that in the last days
there'd be people coming and say, here's Christ or there's
Christ. And He says, don't listen to them, they're deceivers. Satan
is a deceptive devil. And one of his main tools is
the deception of false Christianity. We hear the term Antichrist or
Antichristian. And a lot of Antichrist or Antichristian
spirit is those who come in the name of Christianity but who
deny the faith. Remember what Paul wrote up there,
examine yourselves. whether you be in the faith. And this book, What is a Christian? A Biblical Study of the One True
Faith, is part of a series of books that I've written one other
called What is Salvation? A Biblical Study of God's Greatest
Gift. Do I claim to be saved? Am I
truly saved? These books are intended to be
guides through the scripture, accompany the Bible to guide
you through in your study in a process of self-examination. So consider this. Secondly, consider
that all of this begs the question of what a true Christian is,
and in essence, true Christianity, and underscore this, according
to the Bible. You see, in this series of messages
and in this book, I'm not really interested in what I personally
believe about what a Christian is and what a Christian is not.
I'm not really interested in what men and women say, what
you say. I'm interested, and I hope you're interested, in
what the Bible says a true Christian is. That's the issue. What does God's Word have? If
I claim to be a Christian, if I claim to be a Christian, what
does this Word say? Now, if you don't claim to be
a Christian, but maybe you're interested in finding out the
realities of Christianity, this book would be good for you too,
this series of messages. So, ask the question, what then
is a true Christian? You know, the name Christian,
and Christians plural, is found three times in the Bible in the
book of Acts. First, it's found in Acts chapter
11, verse 26, And it speaks of a man named
Barnabas who went to find Paul. Acts 11.26, it says, when he,
that is Barnabas, who was a Christian, had found him, that is Paul,
he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church. You know what,
that's talking about the Christian church. and taught much people
and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. That's where the name first is
mentioned in the New Testament. And then again it's found in
Acts chapter 26 verse 28 where Paul was standing before King
Agrippa. He was on trial and Paul preached
the gospel, the Christian gospel, the Christian good news And it
says, King Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian. That's the second time the term
Christian is used. And then over in 1 Peter chapter
4 and verse 16, the Apostle Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to use that term, Christian, concerning the suffering that
believers, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ would go through.
And he says, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. Now that
term Christian three times. What does all of this teach us?
As you go through the New Testament, as you go through the Bible,
what does it teach us about Christians? Well, first of all, as I mentioned
before, a Christian is one who trusts and follows the Lord Jesus
Christ for all salvation and who follows the teachings of
Jesus Christ. So in other words, a Christian
is one who not only follows the teachings of Christ, I want to
emphasize that, he does, he or she does. But a Christian is
one who trusts Christ, believes in Christ, rests in Christ for
all salvation. In other words, if I'm a Christian,
I believe that all of my salvation is conditioned on this person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone. And I follow Him. I trust Him. I love Him. I follow
His teachings. That's what a Christian is. A
Christian is a sinner. saved by the grace of God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what a Christian is. A
Christian is not some kind of a special person who rises above
the mass of humanity because of their own goodness or their
own power or their own will. No, sir. A Christian is a sinner
saved by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. In this
book, I'll deal later on with the issue of a saint. Most people
think of a saint as being somebody who's like a super Christian
or a special Christian. or a Christian who has gone above
and beyond the call of duty. Do you know that every true Christian
is a saint? Sanctified, set apart by God,
by God's grace, by God's mercy, they are considered before God
to be righteous. in God's sight, but their righteousness
that they have before God is not their own in the sense of
saying, well, they worked for it, or they earned it, or they
believed into it. No, sir. The righteousness that
they have before God is the merit, the value, of the work of Jesus
Christ for them as their substitute and surety. And I go into all
of those things in the book. But here's what I want to emphasize.
A Christian is a sinner saved not by their works, not by their
will, but by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
First Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15, Paul wrote to Timothy, he
said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's who he came to save. He
didn't come to save good people. You know, there are no good people
in this world according to the Bible. In the book of Matthew
chapter 1 and verse 21, when the angel was telling Joseph
about Mary's child and how he should not put Mary away or be
ashamed of her because the child that was conceived in her womb
was conceived by the Holy Ghost. And it says, you shall call his
name Jesus, Matthew 1 21, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
sinners. What does He save His people
from? He saves them from sin. What is sin? Sin is the fact
that we all, by nature, miss the mark of goodness, of holiness,
of righteousness. We quote that verse all the time.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It means
we miss the mark, even the best of us. So salvation is for sinners. The Bible also tells us throughout
that salvation is by grace, not by our works. Ephesians 2, 8,
it says, for by grace are you saved, through faith. That is,
you're saved by grace, by means of faith. And verse nine says,
and that not of yourselves, even that faith is not of yourselves.
My friend, we by nature are born spiritually dead. We fell in
Adam. and we're born spiritually dead,
we don't have the spark of goodness or a spark of goodwill or faith
within ourselves. If we have faith, it's the gift
of God. Verse 9 of Ephesians 2, and that
not of yourselves, it, faith, is the gift of God. Salvation
is the gift of God. That means you didn't earn it,
you don't deserve it. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. So think about that. Salvation
is by grace. Now, since a Christian is one
who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, and since Jesus
Christ claimed to be the one and only way of salvation, then
we can rightly conclude the following. And I want you to think about
these things. A Christian believes that Jesus Christ is the only,
the one and only, way of salvation. Now you cannot be a true Christian,
according to the Bible now, and believe there are other ways
of salvation. And you'll hear some popular preachers today
who will deny this truth. They'll talk about there are
many ways to God. You can be a Buddhist, and you
can be a Hindu, you can be a Muslim, you can be whatever you choose
to be, and if that's your way to God, and you do your best,
and you pray, and if you're sincere, then you can get to heaven. Now,
now that sounds good to the natural mind. That sounds loving. and kind and tolerant to the
world, but it is anti-Christian. The Lord himself in the book
of John chapter 14 and verse six, he made this statement to
his disciples. It says, Jesus said unto him,
that is unto Peter and the disciples, he said, I am the way, the truth,
the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me." In other
words, if you're going to be able to call God your heavenly
Father, be accepted with God, be justified before God, that
means to be not guilty, to be righteous before God, there's
but one way. And that one way is Jesus Christ
crucified and raised from the dead. the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ. Now we know that a Christian
is one who believes in the death, burial, and Jesus Christ. Not
just the historical fact of those things, but what those things
actually accomplished. What did Christ actually accomplish? Peter, I believe it was, stood
in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 and he made this statement. He
said, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved." Now the problem, in other words, if you're going to be
saved, Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. You cannot
be a Christian according to the Bible and believe otherwise. If you say, well, I believe there's
people in all religions going to be in heaven, you need to
understand you're not speaking a Christian truth there. You're
not following the teachings of Jesus Christ because He taught
that He's the only way, the one way. Listen to it. The Bible
teaches us that as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's Romans 5.21. You see, if in order to be saved,
in order to go to heaven, A sinner must have righteousness. We don't have it in and of ourselves.
There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth
good, no not one. Where can I, a sinner, find righteousness? Well, I can't find it in Buddha.
Now, Buddha, he taught his way of salvation, the Eightfold Path,
but he never claimed to be the way of salvation. And besides,
the Eightfold Path is a way of works salvation. Can you work
your way to salvation? Christianity says no. All other
religions say yes. Can you work your way to righteousness? The Bible says in Romans 10 and
verse 4, Christ is the end of the law, the finishing of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. There's no other
way to righteousness. If I'm going to find righteousness,
there's one way. Jesus Christ crucified and raised
from the dead. No other way. Now, today's atmosphere,
modern philosophy, modern socialism, modern theology is wrapped up
in what I call pluralism and relativism. Pluralism. There's all kinds of different
ways and they're all right. I even heard one man who claims
to be a Christian who made this statement. He said, Jesus is
the only way to heaven, but there are many ways to Jesus Christ.
Now what he's talking about there is the number of denominations.
And my friend, pluralism, there's so many different ideas and views,
even of Christianity. Relativism. What is relativism? Well, that says that there's
no absolute truth. You've got your way, I've got
my way, and they're all right. Somebody says, well, there are
many ways to Jesus Christ and they're all right. No, they're
not. Not according to the Bible. Do we have any standard by which
to determine the truth of Christianity? Well, it all really boils down
to this. And this is what self-examination
is all about. Number one, can we prove from
the Bible that we are true Christians? Now again, go back. Do you claim
to be a Christian? Whatever denomination you are,
can you prove it from the Bible? And then secondly, and here's
the key, Are we willing to put this matter to the test of Holy
Scripture? Are you willing to lay your faith
on the line and have it challenged? You should be. According to the
Bible, if we claim to be a Christian, not only should we be willing
to test our claim with the truths of the Bible, but we should be
eager to do so. Now, God's Word, as I said before,
and that's our text today, 2 Corinthians 13, 5, encourages us to do that,
to examine ourselves. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Put it
to the test. Test yourself. Know you not your
own selves. The only way that I can know
myself is as I read God's Word. This is the only true reflection
or view of myself. You know the Bible tells us in
the book of Jeremiah chapter 17 that the heart's deceitful. The heart, the natural heart,
the unregenerate heart, The person who's not been born again, you
know, the Bible teaches us that we fell in Adam, we were ruined
by the fall. The only way of salvation is
to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's His righteousness. His righteousness imputed, charged. My sins imputed, charged to Him.
His righteousness to me. If He died for me, you see, and
then regenerated by the Holy Spirit, born again by the Holy
Spirit, The unregenerate heart is deceitful, desperately wicked,
who can know? The only way I can know myself
is right here in this book, God tells me. So prove your own selves,
know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except you be reprobate. First Peter 3.15 tells us, but
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear. Would you not agree
that it's for our eternal good that we put our claim to the
test now? Consider those I mentioned before
of whom the Lord spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
7, 21, when he said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven. He said in verse 22,
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. What was the problem? Well, these
men and whoever they were, stood before Christ at the judgment,
claiming to be Christian. You remember they said, they
said, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name? How many
people do we know? who claim to be preaching in
the name of Jesus Christ. They claim to be Christian. And
he said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, just because
you claim to be a Christian. Just because you claim to be
preaching in his name does not necessarily mean that's true.
Well, somebody says, well, can I know for sure if I'm preaching
in his name, witnessing in his name? You know what his name
is, don't you? You say, well, his name is Jesus.
Well, his name is that which identifies and distinguishes
him from all counterfeits. And the only way we can know
his name is to read the Bible. What does the Bible say about
Jesus Christ? Well, he's God in human flesh. Now we're gonna be talking about
that in this series of messages and I've got a lot written in
the book. What is a Christian about that? Who is Jesus Christ? He's God man, the word made flesh
dwelling among us. What did he accomplish on the
cross? Did he die to make sinners savable? Did He die to make it
possible for you to be saved if you would do your part? Absolutely
not. That's false Christianity. Jesus
Christ, God in human flesh, died on the cross as the substitute
and the surety of His people, God's elect, given Him before
the foundation of the world. This is what the Bible says now.
One of the identifications of a true Christian in the Bible
is the elect of God. I'll show you that. He died to
secure their salvation. Their sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to Him, and He died under that debt of sin, guilty
for their sins charged to Him, and He drank damnation dry, He
paid their debt in full, and in doing that, He established
the only righteousness whereby they can stand before holy God
and be justified, accepted, blessed, saved. That's who He is and that's
what He did. He secured the salvation of His
sheep. That's another identification
of Christians in the Bible. He secured their whole salvation
unto eternal glory in heaven. And so those who stand before
Him and say, well, we've done this, we haven't done that, we've
done this. If you think that that makes
up your righteousness before God, you're not a true Christian. You see, my righteousness before
God has nothing to do with what I've done for Him, what I've
decided for Him. It has everything to do in what
He did for me on the cross. My righteousness is His blood.
My righteousness is His death. His righteousness imputed, charged,
accounted to me. And so when the Lord stood before
those men as the judge, and heard them say, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? To hear him say, I never knew
you, depart from me, you that work iniquity. He calls those
things iniquity. Why were they iniquity? What
is iniquity? It means it didn't balance out.
It wasn't equaled out to righteousness. You see, God is so holy, He must
be just when He justifies. He must be a just God and a Savior. That's the heart of true Christianity. How can He do that? You see,
the moment that we say that God forgives sin, the moment we say
that God saves sinners, we have a problem. How can we answer
that? How can a holy and just God who
must judge according to truth, who must punish sin, how can
He do that? The answer is found in the Christian
gospel. And that is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It's by God's grace based on
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And that's
what true Christians believe. Now, I want you to take, if you
order this book, take your Bibles and go through and read these
things and study them and examine yourselves, whether you be in
the faith. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.