Sixteen Signs Of A True Believer Part 6 Series

Series: Things That Accompany Salvation

Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Message 10: Sixteen Signs of a True Believer (Part VI)

(2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Jn. 3:24)

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

• “Examine” - peirazo = to test, to scrutinize.

• We are to examine our faith.

• But with what are we to test it?

• We are to examine ourselves by the revealed word of God.

• 28 times in 23 verses John tells us that we can “KNOW” that we are saved!

• We cannot afford to ignore what John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling us!

• There is the danger that we may be “reprobates.”

“reprobate” - to be tested by God and rejected as unapproved, found to be worthless and cast away.

ILLUS: These are the gauges on the dash of your life!

NOTE: These tests are not for you to judge your fellow church member’s salvation. They are to be applied by each person to himself!

REVIEW: Thus far, we have considered:

1. The Companionship Test: Do I demonstrate that I love the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Saints?

2. The Comfort Test: Am I sensitive to sin?

3. The Cleansing Test: Have I experienced and accepted the forgiveness of God?

4. The Commandments Test: Am I keeping God’s commandments?

5. The Conformity Test: Does my life conform to the will of God?

6. The Conduct Test: Am I doing rightousness?

7. The Coming Test: Am I showing that I am looking forward to the coming of Christ by living in such a way that I would not be embarrassed by His coming? “He that hath this hope ... purifieth himself.”

8. The Conquering Test: Am I winning the battle over habitual sin?

9. The Charity Test: Am I demonstrating by my actions and attitude a genuine love for my brothers and sisters in Christ?

10. The Conscience Test: Am I free from the plague of moral guilt?

11. The Communication Test: Have I experienced true answers to prayer?

• TODAY: Sign # 12: The Counselor Test (3:24)

• Do I have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit?

1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

I. The Witness of the Spirit is Essential

A. Because the Holy Spirit is God!

Acts 5:3-4 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

• Being saved means giving yourself to God.

• And God gives Himself to you!

• Specifically, it is the Holy Spirit of God that indwells the believer.

B. Because the Holy Spirit is the Agent of Salvation

1. He Convicts

John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

• Both in Salvation and after Salvation, the Holy Spirit convicts.

ILLUS: Pastor's Sermon Aimed At ME

My pastor shapes his sermons

From A to final Z

In clear and forthright language,

And aims them straight at me.

And when he gets to preaching,

I look around to see

If there might be another

Deserving more than me.

But every soul looks saintly

Their hearts to heaven turn

While I, in my conviction,

Can only sit and squirm.

You know, I often wonder

If I should miss a day;

Would he, without his target,

Have anything to say?

—Author Unknown

2. He Regenerates

Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

• In salvation, the Holy Spirit makes us a new creature.

• He gives us a new life.

• Everything that God intended that man should be, the Holy Spirit puts back into us.

• Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, He made us alive!

3. He Indwells

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

• Unlike the OT where the Spirit came upon men ...