TO BE A TRUE CHRISTIAN BY GRACE

A true child of God, not a Christian in name only, is both a beggar and an heir. A true Christian can be recognized by his walk, and not in the first place by his talk. A true Christian converses in heaven while he sojourns on earth. A true Christian has learned that he of himself is profane and an enemy of God and free grace, but through the work of the Holy Spirit he may become a child of God with a holy desire to walk in God’s ways.

How can we know a true Christian? There are many signs provided in God’s Holy Word and testimony. We will give you a few:

True Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They have to be branches of Christ, the Vine. John 15:1-13: “I am the Vine, ye are the branches.” A child of God belongs to the body of Christ. 1 Cor. 12:12: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” They have to be the citizens with the saints. Eph. 2:18: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” God’s people are a little flock. Luke 12:32: “Fear not little flock: for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God’s people must learn what it means to be God’s husbandry. 1 Cor. 3:9a: “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” A true child of God has to be “the light of the world.” Matt. 5:14: “Ye are the light of the world, A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” They have to be pilgrims. 1 Peter 2:11: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” A true Christian must be “the salt of the earth.” Matt. 5:13. They have to be known as soldiers of Jesus. 2 Tim. 2:3: “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” They have to reveal themselves as stewards of the grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” And, not to mention more, a child of God (a true Christian) must be the temple of God. 2 Cor. 6:16: “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them; and walk in them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Let us ask ourselves this earnest question: Are we such Biblical Christians? Oh, I know God’s child has to say many times: “I am so far away from that!” Listen! Is that a sorrow and a shame for us, or do we accept it as a fact, and live on so cold and far away? That is a wrong attitude!

May the Lord give His flock to understand that they have to be like roses among thorns; like sheep among the wolves; like doves among the ravens. A true Christian is to be like Christ, not in working miracles, but in a holy life. The true children of God have to be the light of the world, who by word and works let their light shine before man that they may see their good works and glorify their Father which is in heaven. Without these lights nothing remains in this world but night and darkness, deception, unbelief and superstition. We know that if God’s children have to look in their own heart, they must complain: “How far I am from that light; I myself am increasingly darkness than light.” May the Lord give us to feel our guilt and shortcomings, and to beg for the light of heaven, not only for us, but for the welfare of our fellow-traveler also.

What the soul is to the body, the true Christians are to the world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body. So God’s child dwells in the world, but is not of the world.

The apostle Paul gives a beautiful picture of a true child of God. He has to be a soldier in the fight with the three-headed enemy: the devil, world and flesh. He describes in Eph. 6 the weapons of that people. First, the girdle of truth, that is, the confession of the pure doctrine of the Gospel, which is an upright confession, not a hypocritical or feigned faith. Secondly, the breastplate of righteousness, the righteousness of faith and the remission of sins, the faith of which Moses speaks in Genesis 15. Thirdly, the shoes wherewith the feet are shod, namely, the fruits of faith. Fourthly, the shield of faith — Christ Himself and His atoning blood. We need that shield against the fiery arrows of the enemy. Fifthly, the helmet of salvation, that is, the Word of God and humble prayer; for as the Hon is frightened at nothing more than the crowing of a cock, so the devil can be overcome with nothing else than with the Word of God and prayer; and of this Christ Himself has given us an example.

Read what is written in 2 Chronicles 33:15b to 17: the converted king Mannaseh “commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only.” They did not serve the God of Israel wholeheartedly. It was a partial service of God and the world.

We have another, yet more terrible picture in 2 Kings 17:33: “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” Read the whole chapter.

May the Lord teach us that if we are “lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth!” And now the greatest miracle: If we become by grace true Christians, then we are pilgrims on earth; for here we have no continuing city!

Dear reader, how is it with us?

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